


Danganronpa-Tangled AU

by OwlPower669



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cute, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Light Angst, Love at First Sight, M/M, Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, Tangled (2010) References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25195579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlPower669/pseuds/OwlPower669
Summary: Basically it's the entire Tangled movie but with Danganronpa characters!!!plus this is very komahina so pls proceed with cautionThere are Danganronpa 2 spoilers, so be careful!!!
Relationships: Hinata Hajime & Komaeda Nagito, Hinata Hajime & Nanami Chiaki, Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko/Pekoyama Peko
Comments: 94
Kudos: 200





	1. Opening

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mbirnsings71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mbirnsings71/gifts), [IndridOnTheRadio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndridOnTheRadio/gifts).



> HEEEY LMAO I HAVEN'T WRITTEN FANFICS IN LIKE 3 OR 4 YEARS so please excuse me if this is awful uhhhhhhh  
> my discord friends are supporting me full-time on this though, so huguuhuuuu  
> please do tell me if my writing is okay and where i can improve!! i'm not the best so hgghkk  
> i literally wrote undertale fanfiction when i was 11 please
> 
> also, check out the ppl who i have gifted this to!! they are rlly cool and they helped me a LOT with this au!!!!

**[Komaeda narrating]**

This... is the story of how I died. Don't worry though! This is actually a very hopeful story! And the truth is, well, it isn't even mine. The story is about a guy actually named Izuru Kamakura. Wait, should I even call him that? Well, anyways, this story starts with _despair_ , of all things.

Now, once upon a time, there was a woman named Junko. Junko Enoshima. She wasn't hopeful at all, to be honest. She wanted the world to feel _despair_. At least, she wanted the kingdom she hated _oh-so-much_ to feel despair. But it was always so full of _hope,_ that it was never possible. So she always stayed in the shadows, until it was the right time for her to strike.

One day, a baby was born! It brought the entire kingdom to joy. You know why? Because the baby was _Hajime Hinata,_ the _Ultimate Hope._ The people celebrated and cheered, and even made a symbol for him - a sun. Don't know why they ever chose a sun, but I guess it's kind of hope related?

The family that Hajime was born to was the royal family, of course. One of the members of the royal family was Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer. She seemed off to be in the royal family though, as she is adopted. Still, the king and queen loved her to bits. And when Hajime was born, Chiaki seemed to love him as much as her parents loved her. As a gift to her baby brother, she gave him the pin she always wore. It meant a lot to her, so she hoped Hajime could realize that one day.

Though, despite being full of hope, Chiaki could've never seen what was about to happen that night.

Junko broke into the castle, going straight to the new-born prince's room. Junko _knew_ that there was more to the Ultimate Hope than the king and queen led on. Because, a very long time ago, there was a tale that one day, the Ultimate Hope would be born, and that they would have powers so _great_ , that there would never be despair in the world. And of course, Junko Enoshima herself could not let that be.

So, once Junko reached the room, she took the baby and _ran._ But she had to break the room's window to escape without others noticing. And because of that, a bit of Hajime's hair was _cut._ And, despite Junko's efforts, the baby had started to cry. Because of that, the royal family woke up and had noticed something was _wrong._ But when they realized that their new-born son is missing, it was too late.

Search parties were sent out, but alas, nobody could find Hajime, no matter how hard they tried.

Meanwhile, Junko had returned to the hidden tower where she lived. It was far away from the castle, so nobody could find her here. While she was placing the baby down, she noticed something... _strange_. Where she had cut the baby's hair by accident, there was a light-brown streak instead of his usual, dark brown hair. Junko immediately knew what this meant. The Ultimate Hope actually _had_ power, and it was stored in his _hair._ An odd choice, for sure, but it meant that Junko _definitely_ had to keep the baby a secret from everyone.

So, the baby grew up as _Izuru Kamakura_. His hair was _long._ So long, in fact, that Junko started using it as an entry to the very long tower. And he grew up thinking that Junko was his big sister, and that she had raised him because his parents died.

Due to Hajime's disappearance, the kingdom had fallen into _despair._ The king and queen were killed, so Chiaki became the queen at the age of 16. But the kingdom didn't know about the missing prince's powers, not even Chiaki. Only the king and queen did. So, since they have died, nobody knew about his powers other than Junko.

But despite everything, Chiaki still had _hope._ She hoped that her brother would return one day, and that the kingdom would no longer be in despair. She _hoped_ every and each day.

So, every year, on Hajime's birthday, she would release a lantern with the sun symbol on it. So did the rest of the kingdom, and it was the only day, where the kingdom would have _hope_. But alas, their prince never returned.

Even so, Izuru would notice the lanterns every year. Even though he grew up with no emotion and only knew despair, the lanterns made him... smile.

"Big Sis Junko... why can't I go outside?" young Izuru would ask often.

"Because, the outside world is a dangerous place," Junko would always say, "filled with horrible, selfish people, and _despair_. There is no hope out there. You must stay inside, where it's safe. Do you understand that, hope?"

Izuru sighed: "Yes, Big Sis Junko..."

He _hoped_ that one day, Big Sis Junko would let him go outside. Even if there was nothing to change her mind.

And so, he hoped and hoped. Especially, since his 18th birthday was soon.


	2. The Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IZURU WANTS TO GO OUTSIDE PLEASE LET THE BOY GO OUTSIDE PLEA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WEEWOOO u have made it to chapter 2 congratss  
> i'm so so sorry if this sucks wasgdfhhffhjfjfhjfhjfh it's literally 6am while i'm publishing this
> 
> yes his pet is snakemi from the dr2 pets section pls

**[3rd person POV]**

"Hey, Snakemi... do you ever wonder what is out there?"

Izuru was wondering, looking outside of the window. Although he found everything to be boring, there was just something _interesting_ about the outside world. Like, for example, the floating lights that appeared once a year. And not just on any day, but on his _birthday_. Izuru always wondered why they appeared on his birthday only, and not on any other day.

Next to him was Snakemi, a unique snake that Izuru found when he was young. Somehow, the poor thing had made it into the tower through the cracks and gaps. Of course, that only meant to Big Sis Junko that she had to fix that. But Izuru had to keep Snakemi a secret. Junko would never let him keep a pet, especially not a snake. Though, Izuru didn't consider Snakemi as a pet, but as a friend.

Snakemi was his only friend other than Big Sis Junko. But, as always, Big Sis Junko had went outside on her daily errands, so Izuru often had to talk to Snakemi. Surprisingly, Snakemi always listened.

"Maybe... maybe Big Sis Junko would let me go outside finally? I mean, it's my 18th birthday tomorrow and..." Izuru trailed off, wondering. He always got lost in his thoughts every time he was at the window. Snakemi just curled up to him, as to calm him down a bit.

All of a sudden, he heard a voice outside. As he looked down, he saw that Big Sis Junko had returned.

Meanwhile, at the castle, three thieves were trying to sneak in. One of them was Makoto Naegi. Of course, that isn't his real name, everyone just called him Naegi. His real name is actually Nagito Komaeda.

The other two thieves were the Ultimate Imposter and Teruteru Hanamura. The Ultimate Imposter well... was good at being any person he wanted to be, although currently, he was Byakuya Togami, so everyone just called him that. It was a usefull skill to almost never get arrested, since he could easily fool everyone by changing his appearance.

Teruteru was actually a cook, but started stealing since _something_ happened to his mother. Though, he never told neither Byakuya nor Naegi, so it was practically unknown.

Currently, the three of them were on the roof of the castle. Naegi looked around, and breathed in:

"Wow, guys, I could get used to a view like this!"

Byakuya sighed, clearly irritated: "Naegi, come on, we gotta go."

"Yeah, just, hold on," Naegi said, as he looked around, taking in the sight, "Yep, I'm used to it."

He looked at Byakuya and Teruteru: "Guys, I want a castle."

"We do this job, you can buy your own castle." Teruteru glared, as he yanked Nagito by his shirt's collar and dragged him to the castle enterance.

As Teruteru and Byakuya let down the rope that Naegi held on to, he sneaked into the room where they kept a crown. A very special crown, in fact. It was Hajime's crown, guarded and protected for years ever since the prince went missing.

Of course, that meant that the crown was surrounded by guards. So, as Naegi sneaked down and was right next to the crown's display, one of the guard's sneezed.

"Oh, hay fever?" Naegi smirked, while grabbing the crown.

The guard sniffled: "Yeah..."

"HEY, WAIT-!"

But as soon as the guard turned around, Naegi was gone. And so was the crown.

And so, the trio had started running. Byakuya had some struggle and was a bit slower, but they still got far away from the guards.

"Can't you picture me in a castle of my own?" Naegi laughed while panting, "Cause I cetrainly can!"

Byakuya and Teruteru just ignored him. They weren't as swift or fast as Naegi, so they didn't have as much energy.

Naegi continued laughing: "All the things we've done and seen, and it's only 8:00 in the morning! So _this_ must be hope!"

"IZURU! Let down your hair!" Junko yelled.

Izuru sighed: "Alright, I'm gonna ask her. Come on, Snakemi, don't let her see you."

Snakemi went to hide behind an object while Izuru gathered his hair to let down. It _was_ a pretty tedious task, after all.

"Come onnn Izuru, I'm not getting any younger here!!" Junko yelled once more. She tended to get irritated often, especially at Izuru. But despite that, Izuru still loved her. After all, she was his only family in this cruel, despair-ridden world.

"Coming, Sis..." Izuru threw his hair down. Even though Izuru has never touched grass, his hair was long enough to reach down to it. He often wondered if he could get outside that way-

Once Junko grabbed onto his hair, he started pulling up. Junko was actually hooded at all times when going outside. Izuru always thought it was weird, but never asked as it probably for the best.

He sighed: "Hi.. welcome home, Big Sis Junko."

"Oh, hope, how do you do that so often without fail?" Junko wondered as she stepped into the tower, cupping Izuru's face with her hand.

Izuru looked away: "It's... nothing."

Although Junko was his older sister, he never really learned to cooperate with her, especially with other humans. Well, it's not like he's ever _met_ another human, he just never knew how to express a different emotion other than boredom.

"Then I don't know why it always takes you so long!" Junko glared at him.

Izuru looked at her, confused. What was _that_ supposed to mean?

But then she laughed: "Oh, I'm just teasing, darling! You don't have to take everything I say so seriously!"

Junko started taking off her hood, and Izuru slowly breathed in. Even though it's just _Junko_ , Izuru was always nervous asking about these type of things. He knew how mad Big Sis Junko could get, and he didn't want that to happen again. Remembering that just made him shiver. Sheesh, and he was supposed to hold all of his emotions inside! At least, that's what Junko had told him to do...

"Okay, so, Big Sis..." He started, walking closer to Junko, who was currently looking at herself in the giant mirror they had in this room, "you know tomorrow is a _very_ big day for me, and I-" All of a sudden, he was cut off.

"Izuru, look at yourself. You're so full of despair I just... love it!" Junko was pratically drooling at this point. Ew.

Izuru sighed. He didn't like it when Big Sis Junko went on her despair rants: "Yes... well, Big Sis, as I said, you know it's a big day tomorrow, and-"

Junko, continuing to inspect herself even closer in the mirror, once again, stopped Izuru: "Heyy, Sis is a little bit bruised from all the walking" She said, doing her usual "puppy eyes" look, "Would you sing for me, hope? Then we'll talk."

"Oh, yes, of course..." He looked away without emotion. Why did Big Sis want him to sing so often? Yes, his powers came from his hair, and you had to sing a special song to unlock them, but still. All he could mostly do is heal. Junko never told him anything more about his powers nor his hair.

Yes, Junko had found out how his hair works. She found out about it in an old book from an old library while she was out one day.

He sat down and gave Junko the hair brush. He never really liked singing, but he had to do it so _often_ because of Junko. He was hoping he could've avoided it this time.

Breathing in, he started singing _really_ fast: " _Hope gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse-_ "

Junko started brushing his hair, that was soon starting to glow white, as fast as she could, and looking very confused as of why Izuru was acting this way: "IZURU!!"

He sighed, irritated. At least that was done and over with: "Okay, Sis, earlier I was saying that tomorrow is a big day for me and... well, it's my birthday.."

Junko stood up, looking at him: "No, how could that be? As I remember, your birthday was _last_ year." She glared.

He sat there, dumbfounded: "but. birthday's are a yearly thing."

"Look, Junko, I..." Izuru stood up, still not making eye-contact with her, "I'm turning 18 and... I wanted to ask... if... well..."

"Oh, just spit it out already, Izuru! You know how I feel about the mumbling!" She started itimidating a young child, putting up her open-wide hands to her head to look as giant ears, and sticking her tongue out, as well as crossing her eyes a bit, "Bleh-blah-bleeh-blah-blaaaah. It's so _annoying!_ "

Junko had already started walking away when Izuru looked away, starting to feel unsure about asking her. But with the corner of his eye, he saw Snakemi, nodding her head to encourage Izuru to just _do it_.

Izuru breathed in, closed his eyes and quickly just _blurted_ it out: "I wanted to ask if I can go see the floating lights!"

"...what?"

He nervously shook his head: "Oh, I mean- I was hoping if _you_ could take me to see the floating lights."

" _Oh,_ you mean the _stars_." Junko laughed.

"That's the thing." Izuru said, as he pointed at a wall that he haid painted, "I've charted stars, and they're always constant... But _these_... they always appear on my birthday. _Always_. And.. I have a feeling... that they're meant... for me. So I _have_ to go outside to see them."

" _Oh?_ You want to go _outside?_ " Junko teased, "Well TOO BAD, because you know _damn well_ why you can't leave this tower."

Izuru shivered: "Yes, I know, but..."  
  


"What's _this?_ My, my, Izuru, you're starting to sound _hopeful!_ " Junko looked at him, wide-eyed.

Izuru shook his head, shocked: "No, no, it's just-"

"Look, Izuru," Junko walked up to him, looked dead-pan in the eye, "You _know_ why we have to stay in this tower."

"I know, but-"

"That's right," She grabbed a handful of his hair, "To keep you safe and sound, hope."

"But-"  
  


" _Shush._ Trust me, _Pet._ " Junko snarled and turned to face Izuru, "Big Sis knows best, listen to your sister." She hummed, tapping his nose with her finger a couple of times, "The world is _full of despair_ , you're only safe here, _got it?"_

"...yes, Big Sis Junko." He sighed. Of course, why did he ever _hope_ that Junko would let him go outside? She would never.

"Good." She turned around to the direction of the window, "Oh, and Izuru, I have just one _teensy-bitsy_ request."

Izuru looked up at her: "What.. is it?"

Not even making eye contact with him, she said with her teeth clenched shut: "Don't _ever_ ask to _leave this tower, again._ "

And once more, he looked down: "Yes, Big Sis..."

Junko laughed menacingly: "Ahhhh, I love you very much, dear."

Izuru grabbed one of his hands, still looking down: "I... love you more." Why was he hesitating? Even Izuru himself didn't know. Junko was his only family, right? So, he must love her, _right?_

"I love you most." She started climbing out of the window as she held onto Izuru's hair, "Well, taa-taa, Izuru, I'll see you in a bit, my hope!"

And she was gone once more.

"And I'll be here... as always."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAAA u read it all??? the h e l l  
> again, next chapter will probably be out soon if this somehow gets positive responses uhhhhhjjjjjjjjjjjjhhhhhhh
> 
> Words: 1895


	3. The Satchel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> komaeda gets vibe checked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WoAH WHAT THE HE L L  
> i did n o t expect this much support??? even though??? i haven't written in 3-4 years??? udryrfhgjfhjfhjfdkjdkdlkd  
> what i'm trying to say is- thank you everyone!!!
> 
> alSO, i forgot to mention - i made hajime/izuru and nagito reference sheets before i started writing!!  
> you can view them here, if you want to: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-x2272n8Z5rG51VFltR-gu78nj0L5s6Y?usp=sharing  
> or!!! you can go check out my instagram!!! (@/owlpower669)  
> i post all of my art there n the ref sheets are also there!!! i'll probably be doing some art for this fanfic soon, so if u're interested um,,, go check me out? pls? :pleading_face:

**[3rd Person POV]**

Running through the forest, all three of them were panting - Byakuya was still a bit behind Teruteru and Naegi, so he was panting the most, though everyone was exhausted, so Naegi stopped at a tree to hold his breath.

"Oh, of course." Naegi pointed at the same exact tree he stopped at. It had three "Wanted" posters pinned on it - Byakuya's, Teruteru's, and of course - Naegi's.

"They just _can't_ get my hair right.". Naegi's poster had him on it, alright, but the supposed _artist_ drew his hair _spiky_. "My hair is _fluffy,_ can't they _see?_ "

Teruteru just rolled his eyes: "Nobody cares about your hair."

Naegi pouted: "Well, that's easy for _you_ to say," he pointed at the other two posters, "You two look amazing."

Teruteru's and Byakuya's posters were quite accurate to how they actually looked. They just _never_ got Naegi's right.

All of a sudden, they heard the royal guards getting closer to where they currently were. So, Naegi being Naegi, he tore off his poster from the tree and started to run with Byakuya and Teruteru, who were already ahead of him.

Aaand immediately, they had run into a dead end. It was a cliff that they had to climb up, but one person couldn't do it alone. "All right." Naegi suggested, "Give me a boost and I'll pull you two up." He was quite strong, despite his appearance.

Byakuya looked at Teruteru as he nodded: "Give us the satchel first, _then_ we'll talk."

The satchel they were talking contained the stolen crown, of course. Currently, Naegi had it, since the satchel itself belonged to him. The crown was of high value, and, despite being "crime buddies", Byakuya nor Teruteru trusted Naegi, no matter what he said or did.

"Wha-" Naegi did a fake surprised gasp. "I can't believe you guys... after _everything_ we've been through together, and you _still_ don't trust me? Maaan, I thought we were frieeends..." He sighed sadly.

"Psh, as if you've ever had any friends..." Teruteru muttered under his breath. Of course, Naegi heard this. Despite that, he decided to ignore it. He was used to this.

Byakuya just looked at him, deadpan.

"Ouch." Naegi sighed, giving up and handing the satchel over to him.

As they started lifting Naegi up, they struggled quite a lot. Naegi basically stepped on Teruteru's face with his boot.

As Naegi had made it to the very top, Teruteru, who was standing on Byakuya's shoulders, grunted: "Now help _us_ up, you idiot!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, but" Naegi laughed, lifting up one of his arms to reveal that the satchel was in _his_ hands, "My hands are _full_."

As he said that, he started running _full speed_ ahead.

"W-WHAT?!" Byakuya yelled, looking around his waist, only to see that the satchel is _gone._

**_"NAEGI!!!"_ **

****

He ran away from the guards, smirking. Oh, did I forget to mention? Naegi is _very_ lucky, especially when stealing things. So, the plan "Snatch the satchel from Byakuya without him noticing" was a complete success.

Though, despite him being _extremely_ lucky at most cases, his luck had a _downside._

"Retrieve that satchel at _any cost!_ " The captain yelled. She was a woman, so that's pretty neat, I guess

The guards were on horses, so, of course they were fast. In front of all of the horses was a gorgeous, black horse. Pretty sure he's the captain's favorite, since she was actually on him right now.

The guards started shooting arrows, and Naegi _did_ have some trouble dodging them. Of course, though, lady luck was on his side.

And as luck would have it, he saw a short, but wide enough tree with thick branches to jump through, trapping and making the guards confused. Buut of course, the captain and her horse made it through, barely even stopping.

"We got him now, Nekomaru." The captain snickered, holding a bow and arrow in her hand.

Naegi panicked a little bit. He saw no escape. This was the _captain_ , and her horse was the _fastest_ among them-

Suddenly, he saw a tree vine. It was the craziest idea ever, but Naegi just said " _Fuck it."_ internally and just _went for it_.

He grabbed onto the vine, gripping it tightly. Fortunately for him, the vine _swung around the tree,_ and Naegi proceeded to kick the captain in the face, pushing her off of her horse.

Naegi went and took the chance, jumping on the horse's saddle.

But the horse went to a sudden _stop_. Of course, now Naegi could see why _this_ horse was the captain's favorite. He was loyal as _hell!_

The horse glared at him, gritting his teeth.

Naegi exhaled, annoyed: "Come oooon, horsey, horsey, mooove!"

Though, as he said that, he was holding the satchel in his right hand. The horse tried to grab it with his teeth, but Naegi avoided the attack.

"Nooo... good horsey-" But the horse just started to try harder, trying his best to grab the bag, "NO- NO- BAD HORSE-"

At this point, the horse had started to spin around in circles, trying to grab it. Basically, like a dog chasing it's tail. Little did Naegi know, they were quite _quickly_ moving towards a cliff.

At one point, the horse had successfully grabbed the satchel, though Naegi was still holding onto it.

"No, give me thAT-"

Naegi had started to pull, and so did the horse. But because of the pulling, all of a sudden, the bag went _flying_ over to the cliff they were just _inches_ away from.

Thankfully, the bag got caught on the... weirdly shaped tree that had grown to the side of the cliff.

Though, bad news was, that it got caught on the _smallest_ branch, so it could slide off in any given moment.

Naegi looked at the horse.

The horse looked at Naegi.

Not even one second later, Naegi had jumped off of the horse and had started running to the tree.

The horse also started to run, but Naegi tried his best to stop him.

At this point, they were basically making each other trip over themselves.

Both had made it to the tree at the same exact time, though.

The horse had tried his _best_ to make Naegi fall off, though, despite his efforts, Naegi had made it first to the satchel.

"HAH, now _that's_ luck-" Naegi laughed, before being cut off by the tree snapping by it's root and starting to fall.

Well, that's the _downside_ of Naegi's luck. Every time something good happened, something _bad_ would come later. For example, how he had just successfully gotten the satchel _all_ for himself, but now, just minutes later, he was falling off of a cliff with a horse from the royal guard.

That's just how his luck worked. It happened like this _every_ time, ever since he was _born_. Although he hated how he was stuck with an Ultimate Talent like this, he was used to it by now. Of course he was. He had to.

As they both fell, the tree split in _half_ thanks to the giant boulder that was sticking out of the side of the cliff, separating Naegi and the horse.

The horse lived though, don't worry.

After falling to the ground, he soon got up (don't ask me how that's possible okay) and starting _sniffing_ the path out, trying to find the thief that had suddenly disappeared.

Naegi was actually just hiding behind a boulder that was nearby. As he made sure the horse had _finally_ left, he exhaled in relief. _He wasn't caught! He had the satchel which contained the prince's crown! He was going to become rich-_

But all of a sudden, that train of thoughts ended. As he proceeded to lay down on what he _presumed_ was a wall, he fell _through_.

The horse seemed to hear this noise, so he hid behind the thick layer of vines that had tricked him just a second ago.

Though, it seems like the horse _also_ thought that the thick vines are a wall, so he didn't get to find Naegi.

_Again_ , after making sure the horse was gone, he ran through what _seemed_ to be a tunnel of some sorts.

As he made it outside to the other side, he stopped breathing for a second.

_The hidden tower._

To Naegi though, it just seemed like a _very_ tall tower. _How the hell was anyone supposed to enter this thing?_

He started to hear neighing in the distance from the direction he came from. So, he did what any sane person would do.

He started to climb the tower with two arrows.

There was no other entry-way, so he assumed that it was a failed building project, and that _nobody_ lived in the tower and he could just hide in it for a few days.

He had climbed up, closing the window he had came through afterwards, panting.

Taking off the satchel from his shoulder, he opened it, looked at the crown, and sighed: "Alone... at last..."

**_BONK_ **

Izuru, with no emotion in his face, and a frying pan in his hand, said: " _What the **fuck."**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE IS THIS WEIRD GLITCH ON WHERE THE CHAPTER 1 NOTES WERE AT THE END OF CHAPTER 2 INSTEAD AND IDK IF IT'LL HAPPEN AGAIN THIS TIME BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT LETTING ME DELETE THE CHAPTER 1 NOTES THE EDITOR IS JUST PRETENDING THEY DO NOT EXIST
> 
> also yes nekomaru is maximus uhhhh
> 
> Word count: 1528


	4. Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> komaeda is in the closet and izuru has gay thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD I HATED WRITING IZURU'S POV I'M SORRY IF IT'S BAD NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE IN KOMAEDA'S POV BECAUSE I'M A NAGITO KOMAEDA KINNIE AND YOU BET I'M GONNA HAVE FUN WRITING THAT  
> weewoo it is 5am

**[Izuru's POV]**

_Why is there... another person in the tower?_

"What the _hell._ "

It's been an _hour_ since Junko left. She could be back any _minute._

I looked at Snakemi. She was looking at him, also confused, just like me.

I kneeled down to look a bit closer at him. I started reaching out with my hand to his face, curious, when suddenly, Snakemi hissed at me in warning.

Oh, of course, how could I forget -

Big Sis Junko always told me that the outside people are _cruel_ and only want my hair. That they have _sharp teeth_ and _bloodshot eyes_. It was hard to believe, but... would Big Sis ever lie to me?

She was my big sister. Of course I had to believe her. But something about this _guy_ that just got here... seems... _special_.

I grabbed the frying pan that I had hit the guy with just a minute ago. Yeah, not exactly a weapon, but it did better than expected.

I slowly turned his head to the side, since it had landed face-flat onto the floor. _Ouch._

Though, his hair was still covering his eyes.

I decided to check if he has any sharp teeth.

I slowly lifted his upper lip with the pan's handle.

"Huh..."

They looked like... _normal_ human teeth. Just like mine and Junko's.

Okay, but... what about his eyes?

I used the frying pan once more to lift up most of the hair that was covering them, and...

_He's... really pretty..._

Suddenly, my train of thoughts ended when the motherfucker opened his eyes again.

Panicking, I hit his head with the frying pan, _again._

Well, he definitely didn't have bloodshot eyes, that's for sure.

I started thinking - I have to hide him _somewhere_ , otherwise Sis is going to notice and then get mad at me again.

So, I looked around the room, trying to find _anything_ where an entire person would fit in.

Snakemi looked around as well and then pointed with her tail at the closet. _Of course._

Struggling, I tied my hair around him so he would be easier to carry over there. Surprisingly, he was pretty light for a person. _Does he.. eat enough?_

No, Izuru, no need to worry about _that_ now. He's probably here to steal your hair like everyone else is...

_Somehow, that disappoints me._

Though, I did have a pretty hard time trying to get him to actually _stay_ in the closet without falling out. I mean, he's gone _limp_ because of me hitting him. Still, I somehow got him inside after a few attempts and putting a chair in front of the closet after closing it.

"Okay... I've got... a person. In my closet." I breathed as I looked in the mirror that was right next to me, "...I've got a _person._ In my _closet._ What the _hell._ ". I could see my emotionless expression.

Junko always told me that I would be too weak to handle _"a person from the outside world"._ But, to be honest, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I mean, I did _that_ with a _frying pan._

As I looked at myself in the mirror for a longer time, I noticed _something_ in the background right behind me on the floor.

_A bag?_

Well, whatever was in it, the light was reflecting on it, making me curious. Wasn't he _talking_ to it right before I hit him in the head?

Curiosity got the better of me, and I pulled out whatever was in there.

As I picked it up and got a better look at it, I became confused.

"Huh..." I turned around, "What do you think this is, Snakemi?"

Snakemi also looked confused. It was... a round, shiny object. Looks like gold. It also has some gems on it, but I can't tell what kind.

As I tried to think of what it was, I put it through my arm and then looked at Snakemi.

 _"Nope, definitely wrong."_ She seemed to say as she shook her head in disagreement.

I tried looking through one of the bigger gems. Maybe... it's a weird magnifying glass?

Snakemi also disagreed on that.

Then, I turned around to look in the mirror once more. _Maybe, I have to..._

I followed my gut and just... put it on my head.

Surprisingly, it looked... well... on me...

Maybe, just.. _maybe..._ it was made for... _me?_

As I looked at Snakemi for approval, she looked shocked as well. But, alas, she shook her head as to say "No".

Psh, of course, what was I thinking. How could it possibly be made for _me?_

As I kept thinking about the possibility, I heard somebody shouting outside.

" _Izuru!_ "

Oh.. of course, Sis is back. For some reason, I... wasn't that excited about it.

I mean, of course I love her and miss her every time she leaves, but just the _rush_ of having some person _other_ than Junko enter the tower is _amazing_ , but I didn't know what to do further if Junko is back. I had to think of... _something._

But I... obviously couldn't lie to her... _could I?_

I quickly rushed over to a giant vase in the room, putting the bag and... _thing_ with it inside of it.

" _Let down your haaaair! C'mooon!_ " She yelled. She was getting impatient already.

I opened the window, putting up my hair on the hook on top that was built in order to bring Junko up: "One moment, Big Sis..."

"I have a _biiig_ surprise!" She laughed. God, I wonder what she meant by " _surprise_ ".

"...I do too..." I started sweating. This... wasn't going to end well, is it? But she.. she will be proud of me, _right_? I mean, if outside humans are _that_ dangerous, then what did I do just now?

As I started lifting her up after she grabbed onto my hair, she snickered: "I bet mine is _bigger!_ "

I muttered to myself: "I _seriously_ doubt that..."

As Sis finally made it up and sat on the window ledge, she smiled: "I brought back _oranges_. I'm going to make orange and carrot soup for dinner! Your _favorite_. Surprise!!"

Oh, yeah. Orange and carrot soup is my favorite. Although, I strangely just prefer oranges themselves.

"Oh, well, Sis..." I looked away, "I have something to tell you, too."

Junko sighed, putting up her cape on the hook: "Oh, Izuru, you know I just _hate_ leaving you after a fight. _Especially,_ when I've done absolutely _nothing_ wrong."

I sighed. _Oooh boy._

As she walked over to the table on the other side of the room, placing the basket of oranges down, she started slowly placing them down.

"Well, yes... But I've been thinking a lot about what you said earlier, and I-"

"You _better damn well_ not be talking about the _stars_ again, Izuru." She snapped. Dammit, was she getting mad at me again?

"Well... _yes,_ but-"

"Because I _really_ thought we dropped the issue, _hope._ "

_God, she almost squished one of the oranges she was holding..._

"You see..." I turned to the closet, "You _think..._ I'm not strong enough to handle myself... out there. _But- **"**_

Junko laughed, almost as if she was _making fun of me._ But she would never, _right?_ "Oh, sweetie, I _know_ you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there."

"But maybe... if you just-"

"Izuru." Junko glared, turning around to look at me, "We are _done_ talking about this."

I started to panic a bit. _Gosh dammit, Izuru, not in front of Junko:_ " _Trust me,_ I know what I'm-"

" ** _Izuru._ "**

"But if you just-"

" ** _ENOUGH WITH THE GODDAMNED LIGHTS, IZURU!_** " She yelled as she turned back around, hitting her fist onto the table, " **You are _NOT_ leaving this fucking tower, _EVER_** _!_ "

I stood silent. My hand was already on the chair that was blocking the doors to the closet. I even was shaking a bit and I didn't even notice. _I hope Sis didn't see that..._

Of course... she wouldn't even let me say anything....

_Maybe Junko was right... there's only despair in this world..._

I lifted my hand from the chair. Junko sighed.

"Oh _great_ , now _I'm_ the bad guy."

I looked around the room, still shocked into silence. My eyes met the star chart that I painted a while ago while trying to find things to do in this goddamn tower.

_Then, I realized what I should do._

"I... was just... trying to say that..." I looked at her as I walked in front of the chair, "I... realized what I want for my birthday..."

Junko looked at me, still in disbelief.

I sighed, crossing my arms slightly: "Some... books from the library... the one that was in that small town you went to that one time... so that... I'd have more to do around here..."

She looked at me, puzzled, then started to groan, face-palming: "But that's a _very_ long trip, Izuru. Almost _three days time_."

I looked away from her once more: "I... just thought... it would be a better idea... than... the stars..."

Big Sis sighed, and then _slightly_ smiled at me: "You sure you will be alright on your own?". She hugged me

"I know I'm safe..." I hugged her back, "As long as I'm... here."

_"I'll be back in three days. I love you very much, hope."_

_"I... love you more."_

_"I love you most."_

As I watched her go away into the tunnel, I turned back around to the closet, frying pan in hand, and _slowly_ removed the chair.

After I opened the closet doors using my hair, almost like a lasso, the guy fell out, face-flat onto the floor. Again.

_Ouch._

Though, as I went closer to him, pan in hand, just in case, I noticed something. He was still unconscious.

_Hmm..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nghhh izuru doesn't know what a crown is what the hell
> 
> Word count: 1632


	5. Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> komaeda comes out of the closet and izuru fucking KNEW they weren't stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAAA LONG BOY INCOMING  
> sorry for not posting daily, been playing dr2 island mode with my friends on stream, and been also making some danganronpa galaxy wallpapers woowoo  
> ALSO SORRY IF KOMAEDA GETS OUT OF CHARACTER SOMETIMES it's juss that i kin him and well i tend to get a bit carried away haha,,,,
> 
> aND SORRY THAT I KEEP SAYING THAT IZURU'S RED EYE GLOWS i literally love that hc like there's smthn so powerful abt characters with glowing eyes like FUCK

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

I suddenly woke up from what felt like a deep sleep...

Wait, why does- _OW,_ why does my head hurt _so_ much?? It feels like I was hit with a frying pan or something...

As my eyes started taking in my surroundings, I realized that I was... tied to a chair.

No, not with rope, but with _hair_.

And.. wait. Why does my ear feel _wet._

As I looked to the side, I saw...

"A **_snake?!_** " I yelled out.

The snake seemed to hiss back at me as a response. _Gosh dammit, why do animals hate me so much today... just my luck._

Wait.. did it wake me up by _putting it's tongue in my ear?!_

"Gross..." I muttered. I started looking at the hair, my eyes following the trail that it left.

It lead to a dark corner of the room of the supposed _tower_ had, and what I saw was...  
 _Red eyes?_

Well, not technically _eyes_ , I only saw one. But still, a red eye _glowing_.

~~Sans?~~

I tried to force my way out of the hair I was tied with, but alas, it was no use. _Sheesh, this hair is durable._

"Struggling... is pointless." I heard someone say. Who... who was that?

"Huh...?"

"I know why you're here..." The supposed person said, "And... I'm not afraid of you..."

"What?" I replied, confused as ever, "Who... who are you??"

The person who was in the dark started moving forward. And... I saw...

A guy with long, and I mean _long_ dark brown hair, sweater and jacket on, frying pan in hand. His right eye was covered by his bangs, but the left eye glowed red. _Huh... how interesting._

"No, who are _you..._ " The guy in front of my spoke. He was staring at me, pointing daggers. _Sheesh, his voice sounds so... emotionless_. "And... how did you find me?"

"Uh-huh..." I was still confused. Who the hell _is_ this guy?

_For some reason, I want to know more._

"Who **_are_** you? And **_how_ **did you **_find me?_** " He replied, with a sterner voice this time.

I cleared my throat, looking down: "Look, I don't know who you are, or how I came to find you, but can I just say..." Pulling up my best smirk and raising my eyebrow, I looked at him, " _Hi._ "

He looked at me, still emotionless. _I can feel the confusion though-_

Still smirking and looking at him, I continued: "How are you doing? The name is Makoto Naegi." _Well, not really, but what hope is the name "Nagito Komaeda" supposed to bring??_

Still looking emotionless as ever _(God, he looked **bored.** )_, he stayed silent, staring at me.

"How is your day going?" I laughed.

Breathing out an exaggerated sigh, he pulled out his frying pan and put it right in front of my face: "Who _else_ knows my location, _Makoto Naegi?_ " _Well sheesh, he doesn't sound hopeful at all..._

I pulled the chair a bit back: "All right, stormy, I-"

He quickly cut me off, annoyed: " ** _Izuru. Izuru Kamakura._** "

OHHH, so _that's_ his name!

"Хорошо, here's the thing: I was in a situation, running through the forest, fell down a cliff, came across your tower and..." I trailed off, realizing something, " _Wait a minute_ , where is my _satchel?_ "

"I've hidden it," the supposed Izuru looked at me, dead in the eye, crossing his arms, "Somewhere you'll **_never_** find it."

I looked around the room, and came to a conclusion: "It's in that vase, isn't it?" I pointed.

Izuru looked at the vase, then at me.

**_BONK_ **

****

"Ugh..." I groaned, opening my eyes again. _Was I... hit again?_  
I looked to the side. Again, the snake was on my shoulder, putting it's tongue in my ear.

I shuddered, and shook the snake off.

"Can you _stop_ that? Sheesh..." I sighed, struggling to wipe my ear with my clothes, since I have limited movement.

" _Now_ it's hidden where you'll **_never_** find it." He still had that stern look on his face. _Maybe chill?_

I slouched, admitting defeat for once. I mean, I was tied to a chair in a long-ass tower with some guy's _hair._ What other choice did I have here?

"Now..." Izuru looked at me, angered, "What do you want to do with my hair? To _cut_ it?"

" _What-_ "

"To _sell_ it?" He put up the frying pan to my chin.

I stammered: "No?? _Listen,_ the only thing I want to do with your hair is to _get out of it._ Literally."

At this point, he had stared walking in circles around me, making his hair even more tied around me. Suddenly, he stopped.

" _Wait,_ you _don't_ want my hair?" He seemed surprised, though the emotion his face held didn't change, he just looked at me

I looked at him back, again, confused: "Why would I _ever_ want your _hair?_ _Look,_ I was being chased, saw your tower and climbed it. That's it."

He looked away. _Sheesh, is he having an existential crisis?_

His face seemed to become less stern, if that's even possible: "Are you... telling the truth...?"

I sighed, a bit annoyed: " _Yes,_ there would be no reason for me to _lie_."

He snake from before seemed to have made it to Izuru's shoulder. The pan was still being held up at my face, almost like I was at gunpoint, so the snake slithered to the very edge of it, staring me down. It looked at me, top to bottom, and looked at Izuru.

He walked back, facing his back to me, taking the snake in hand.

He whispered: "I _know_ , but I need someone to take me."

The snake hissed in reply.

Was he... talking to his _snake?_

"I..." He trailed off, still whispering, "I think he's telling the truth too..."

_God, this place is crazy._

I heard the snake hiss again.

"He... he doesn't have fangs." Izuru still kept on whispering, "But what other option do I have?"

I started shaking the chair, trying to _somehow_ escape.

He sighed, as if he's come to a conclusion.

"All right, _Makoto Naegi_ ," I stopped moving as Izuru turned around, stern as ever, "I'll offer you a... deal."

" _Deal?_ " I stared at him as he stared to turn the chair around by pulling his hair. The chair started to lose balance aaand... It fell to the floor, taking me with it. ” _Despair."_ I said, my mouth muffled by my face being on the floor.

"Look over here." Ignoring me, he pointed at a wall after lifting up the curtain covering it, "Do you know what these are?"

The wall seemed to be painted as a night sky full of... _lanterns_.

I replied, still muffled, but my head was turned in the direction of the wall: "You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?"

"...lanterns?" He mumbled to himself, then put his hands into fists, "I fucking _knew_ they weren't stars."

Izuru coughed to clear his throat out: "Well, tomorrow evening, these _lanterns_ will appear again."

_Huh? Where's he getting at?_

"And _you_ -" He pointed the frying pan in my direction so it would be clear that it was directed towards _me_ , "will be my _guide_ to take me to these... _lanterns_. And return me back home. Only then, and I mean, **_only_ **then you will get your satchel back."

"This is starting to sound like a kidnapping to be honest." I said, muffled, "Fun fact, I was kidnapped once."

"Y-you _what-_ " He kind of looked confused for once. _Well, at least now I know his expression isn't set in stone._

"Anyways," With all my strength, I turned the chair to the side, so that I would be able to talk _without_ having my face pressed in the floor, "No can do, stormy. You see, the kingdom is in pretty deep despair at the moment, and if that's not enough, me and the royal guards _don't_ have a nice relationship. So, I won't be taking you _anywhere._ "

Izuru looked at his snake, who was on his shoulder at the moment, the snake looked back at him, as if they were talking through telepathy. Suddenly, the snake hissed. As I looked at it, I realized that it was staring at _me. Yikes._

He started walking towards me once more, pulling the hair that was tied around the chair, causing it to be lifted straight back up. At least I wasn't laying on the floor anymore.

"Look, Makoto Naegi, something _brought you here_. Call it what you will, despair, hope-"

"A horse." I looked deadpan.

"So..." He trailed off, looking me straight in the eye, "I have made the decision to... trust you."

"A horrible decision, really." I laughed.

"So **_don't_** make me regret it, **_got it_** _?_ " Once more, he pulled up the pan in my face. _Gosh, I'm going to start having a fear of frying pans..._

"Because, I _swear to you_ -" He pulled his hair again, making the chair fall forward, but he held it with one of his hands, " _you can tear this tower brick by brick, but without **my** help, you will **never** find your precious satchel._"

His face was dark, only his eye glowing a bit. _Sheesh, intimidating much..._

I coughed to clear out my throat: "Let me get this straight: _I_ take you to see the lanterns, take you back to this tower, and you'll give me back my satchel?"

"Yes." Izuru kept staring at me, though his face wasn't as dark anymore, "And... I have no reason to break such a promise."  
I raised my eyebrow. _Wait... is he becoming... **soft?**_ Nah, couldn't be.

"Alright, you give me _no_ choice..." I lowered my head, "Here comes... _The Smolder_."

I pulled the _smolder_ trick every time I was in a tricky situation. Of course, it never really worked, but...

Izuru looked at me, as if he was not impressed. _Of course._

"Haha..." I sweat, "This usually doesn't happen..."

He still looked unimpressed.

I breathed in.

" _Fine_ , I'll take you to the lanterns."

"R..really?" For once, he looked shocked. Still looked unimpressed, but just a _little bit_ shocked. _An improvement, for sure._

But, then I realized that he had let go of the chair, I'm guessing from the shock. Since the chair was still leaning forward, I started falling to the floor again, face front. _Ouch._

"You broke my smolder..." I mumbled in pain.

"Psh..." He looked away.

_He is a strange one, that's for sure..._

As if climbing up the tower wasn't enough, climbing town was even _more_ of a struggle.

Izuru was still at the top, frying pan in hand and his pet snake wrapped around his arm, looking down from the window, as if he was thinking if this is really a good idea. _Has he... never been outside?_

"You coming, stormy?" I shouted at him so he would hear.

I could barely hear him mumble: "Well... here I go."

Suddenly, a _crap_ ton of hair flew down from the window, and it was _so_ long that it reached down to the grass.

_The hell is he doing?_

But soon I had to cut that thought, as I saw Izuru _flying_ down- Well, not exactly. He had grabbed onto his own hair, and started gliding down. _Sheesh, couldn't you have offered the same treatment for me, stormy?_

But, all of a sudden, he stopped. Looking down, I saw that he had stopped _right before he had reached the ground._

"Are you..." I asked, "Not going to get down?"

"I..." He trailed off, staring at the grass.

His pet snake crawled up, hissing softly as if to encourage him.

Slowly, he put one of his legs down. Then the other.

Then... he just... stood there. Completely still. Only movement being his hair, being blown by the wind.

By that time, I had already made it down. Putting the two arrows that I used away, I slowly came up to him: "Hey, stormy, you okay?"

"I'm..."

" _I'm free..._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he's out boys
> 
> Word Count: 1992


	6. The Pub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> komaeda to izuru: best to avoid ruffians and thugs though  
> also komaeda: takes izuru to a pub full of ruffians and thugs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI HELLO I AM POSTING THIS FROM MY PHONE BECAUSE IT IS 6AM AND MY MOM HAS WOKEN UP  
> and JESUS CHRIST I THINK BROKE MY FINGERS WHILE WRITING THIS  
> 2,9K WORDS  
> if you're asking me if i'm okay no i am definitely not
> 
> ALSO!!! THANK YOU FOE 50+ KUDOS YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING ILY ALL MWUAH

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

"I'm... free..."

"Woah, woah, woah, woah..." I got stuck in my track of thoughts, which he had basically just confirmed to be true, "Have you  _ never _ actually been  _ outside? _ "

Izuru turned around to look at me, furious: "Of  _ course _ not! ...Big Sis Junko never let me..."

"Huh?" I got confused by this guy once more, "Big Sis  _ who? _ "

"Oh, it doesn't matter..." He turned his head and started walking towards the forest through the same exact tunnel I had came through before.

Few moments later, we were there, between the trees and all. In a forest, some might call it.

"Maybe... I shouldn't have done this. What will Junko  _ think? _ "

"I mean, as long as she doesn't know, all is good, right?" I suggested. Sheesh, he's a  _ mess. _

"Well, yeah but..." His face turned dark once more, "Gosh, I'm a horrible brother."

"Well, I'm only picking up from bits you've told me, but I'm guessing your story is like this: You have an overprotective older sister, and this is basically a forbidden road trip." I came up to him a bit closer, "I mean, this is all part of growing up. I mean, does your sister deserve it? No. Would this break her heart and send her into despair? Of course. But you've just got to do it, if you want to so badly."

"Send her... into despair?" Izuru asked, looking back at me. His face wasn't as dark anymore, but I could tell that he actually felt  _ bad _ for once.

"Yep. Oh, but don't worry about it, she'll be  _ fine. _ " I said sarcastically. "Unless... You want to go  _ back,  _ get your brother-and-sister bond, and give me my satchel...?"

"Okay, first of all," Once more, he glared: "I could  _ tell _ that that was  _ sarcasm.  _ Second of all,  _ no _ , we are  _ going _ to see those lanterns."

I sighed in defeat and slouched: "Oh, am I ever going to get my satchel back..."

Izuru lifted up his frying pan and threatened me with it. His snake, that was on his shoulder once more, was also glaring at me.

Suddenly, a bush that was near us started shaking, making quite the noise with the leaves.

Izuru quickly turned towards it, standing still: "What the hell is  _ that?  _ Thugs, ruffians?"

"Uh, no-" I hastily replied, staring at the bush.

Then, a rabbit jumped out of it.  _ Ah, of course. Cliché. _

"Oh." Izuru just stood, staring at it.

"Be careful," I pointed a finger, "It can probably smell fear."

"Ha, ha, very funny." For once, he smirked.  _ Huh. _

"...We  _ should _ be avoiding thugs and ruffians, though..." I thought out loud.

"Well, obviously." He looked at me, unimpressed.  _ Well, at least that smirk meant something. _

"Well... Are you hungry?" I smirked at him now, "I know a great place for lunch."

"Huh, really?" He smirked right back at me, raising his eyebrow, "Maybe for once you'll be of some good use."

'Heh, yea- hey, WAIT!" I realized what he before I could finish. But alas, he had already started moving forward.

"You don't even  _ know _ where the pub  _ is!"  _ I ran after him.

_ Huh, maybe this won't be so bad after all... _

  
  


**[3rd person POV]**

Meanwhile, still in the forest, the royal guard's captain's horse was still on the hunt for Naegi. He's been sniffing the path ahead of him for the past few hours now.

While searching, he had found a "Wanted" poster of Makoto Naegi, the thief he's currently looking for. As soon as he realized who it was, he quickly snatched the paper with his teeth, completely destroying it.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. He quickly went to hide behind a rock.

As soon as the footsteps grew closer, he jumped out, snarling.

Who the person was? Well, of course, it was Big Sis Junko, just at the start of her long walk to the library. 

The horse sighed, disappointed that it wasn't the thief.

"Eugh... a palace horse..." Junko spat, disgusted. Suddenly, she started to realize something: "Wait... where's your  _ rider? _ "

Her eyes went wide. She wasn't  _ that _ far away from the tower.

" _ Izuru. _ " It hit her suddenly.

She turned around, and started to  _ run _ . The horse just looked at her, confused, tilting his head to the side.

She ran through the tunnel as fast as she could. She couldn't lose Izuru  _ now _ .

It was staring to get dark already. As Junko ran up to the tower, her _ home _ , she could only pray that Izuru was still there.

"Izuru! Let down your hair!!" She yelled, smiling, praying that he would soon let down his hair.

But alas, nothing.

"Izuru? Izuru  _ gosh dammit _ let down your hair!" She was getting impatient again.

But again, of course,  _ nothing. _

She started running towards the side of the hidden tower, tearing off some of the vines and flowers that had grown on it, and brick by brick, she started tearing it down. Her pupils were already looking gray, as if...  _ despair _ was taking over.

As she had made it in under the tower, she started lifting up one of the floor tiles. Soon, she had made it in.

The room was dark.

Looking in  _ every corner  _ of the room, she couldn't see him anywhere.

"Izuru?" She shouted, opening the closet, tearing down the curtains to one of the glass covered windows, "Izuru,  _ gosh fucking  _ **_dammit!_ ** "

Realizing that he was actually  _ gone _ , she grabbed her head in her hand, gripping some of her hair, as most of it was gathered into two pigtails.

But, because of the light the glass window emitted, she saw something...  _ shiny _ where the stairs were at.

Reaching out towards them, she lifted up one of the boards on one of the steps, revealing a...  _ satchel. _

Taking it out, Junko kneeled down, examining it. She pulled out...  _ a crown _ . After just a moment, she  _ realized _ who's crown it was. Gasping, she threw it to the ground, making a  _ clink! _ noise.

The crown was widely known across the kingdom that it was basically another symbol of the lost prince at this point.

Breathing heavily, she looked down at the satchel once more, taking out  _ whatever _ contents it had inside.

She pulled out a poster, with the words:  _ Wanted, dead or alive: Makoto Naegi. _ With a drawing of our well known thief. Of course, the hair looked spiky and  _ not _ fluffy.

She stared at it. And started laughing. Laughing as if all she had was despair. The Ultimate Hope was  _ gone _ , and she  _ knew _ who was to blame.

Running towards one of the drawers, she pulled out a  _ blade _ .

And so, she continued to laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Her vision blurred, despair taking over.

  
  


**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

"I knoow it's around here  _ somewhere _ ..." I walked, following the path that I usually took before all that happened.

"Sheesh, do you even  _ know _ where this place  _ is? _ " Izuru still looked unimpressed. Well, I'm gonna change that... somehow.

" _ Quiet! _ " I shushed him, looking around the corner, "Ah! There it is! The "Snuggly Duckling"!"

" _ "Snuggly Ducking"? _ " Izuru repeated, "Wow, great name choice." He continued sarcastically.

"Oh, don't worry about the name." I looked at him, "I mean, we don't  _ want _ to scare you and make you want to turn back and go home, hm?"

He just looked at me back, still not looking impressed.  _ God, this better work... _

As I opened the door I shouted: "Hello everyone, your finest table, please!"

Izuru stood still, realizing to what I had led him to.

The guests there were all... well...  _ thugs and ruffians. _

"Makoto Naegi, what the hell is  _ this? _ "

I started pushing him forward. He didn't even flinch. He was just looking around, taking everything in.

"Oooh, you smell  _ that? _ What're you getting? Cause what  _ I'm _ getting is really good smell and  _ really _ bad smell." I laughed.

Suddenly, Izuru flinched. One of the  _ guests _ had held onto his hair.

"Geeez, that's a lot of hair! " She said.  _ That _ was Hiyoko, an annoying, but seemingly cute girl. She was quite short for her age though, as she was an adult.

"Woah, Izuru, you see this? Look how short she is!" I could hear Hiyoko shout  _ "Hey!" _ , "Despite her height, I've heard she's done a  _ lot _ of bad things!"

"In what context do you mean  _ bad? _ " She crossed her arms, looking at me.

"Oh, what's that?" I turned, waving my hand, "I can't hear short people."

I could feel her glaring daggers into my back.  _ Ooh sweet Jesus... _

Izuru had already started walking forward to the other side of the pub, bumping into one of the guests. My guess is that he doesn't like people touching his hair.

"Gosh, Stormy, you don't look too good. Maybe we should get you back home and call it a day?" I pondered.

Izuru stayed still, still taking in his surroundings.

"Wellll, this  _ is _ a five-star joint. If you can't handle this, then we should probably head back." I had already stared pulling him by his jacket to the exit door, when suddenly-

**_SLAM_ **

The door was shut right in front of our faces, by one of the thugs, as he held a "Wanted" poster of myself.

"Is this  _ you? _ "

Quickly, I lifted up my hand to push his fingers aside from the poster. As I looked at it, I realized that they had gotten it my hair wrong.  _ Again. _

"Oh, well now they're just being mean."

"Oh it's him, alright." Someone snickered behind me, "Peko, go find some guards."

"Yes, master." She replied, running away.  _ Oh no... _

The guy grabbed me by my collar, as he got close: "That fuckin' reward is going to buy me a new eyepatch."

"Oooh..." I nervously laughed, looking away, "Hii Fuyuhiko, long time no see..."

All of a sudden, the other thugs started to grab me, "But I also need the money!", "What about me? I'm broke!" "No, I need it!"

I was being passed around in a circle at this point and basically getting beat up and pulled by each limb.  _ This could actually get me into prison- _

Suddenly, I saw that Fuyuhiko was hit in the head by one of the upper branches that was put into the pub as decor. As I looked closer, I realized that a  _ certain someone's _ hair was tied around it.

All of the ruffians turned their head in the direction of  _ him. _

"Put. Him. The fuck.  _ Down. _ " Izuru glared.

"Look, I don't like him as much as you do, but I need  _ him _ to take me to the lanterns," He pointed at me, "Because I've been  _ hoping _ to see them my  _ entire life _ ."

He continued, holding the frying pan in one of his hands as he crossed them: "Find your  _ humanity _ , sheesh. Haven't any of you ever had any  _ hope? _ "

_ Did... did Izuru just say...  _ **_hope?_ **

I stared at him, as I was kind of getting worried about what Fuyuhiko was gonna do to him.

Fuyuhiko glared at him as he started walking towards to Izuru.

Izuru stood still, not even phased.

Fuyuhiko breathed in: "I... had hope. Once."

"Wait, wait, wait," I yelled, "Fuyuhiko had  _ what _ now?!"

He glared daggers at me as he turned his head. I gulped. Then, he turned back to Izuru.

"Everyone fuckin' thinks of me as a rude and mean-ass person. But in reality, I just hoped that people would accept me that way if I acted that way."

"Ooh, ooh, I had hope once too, y'know!!" Ibuki, a really energetic person, raised her hand, then came up to Izuru, "I've always hoped that I would become a world-famous musician! But..." She sighed, "Despair happened and I never got to accomplish that."

"Oooh, Ibuki, could you play us your guitar then?" Mahiru, a red-haired girl suggested, "Since you know, we're on this topic at hand about our hopes and such."

"Oh! Great idea Mahiru!" Ibuki hyped as she quickly got her guitar which she honestly kept really close by at all times, despite her  _ hope _ not becoming true.

_...Where is this gonna lead my  _ **_fate_ ** _ to, though? _

  
  


**[3rd Person POV]**

Junko was walking down the forest path where she supposed to thief and Izuru would've went. As soon as she heard music though, she turned to the "Snuggly Duckling".

"Ah, so  _ there _ they are."

  
  


**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

And one by one, somehow, Izuru had made each ruffian in this pub to say their hopes and dreams.

Mahiru hoped to be a famous photographer someday, because she's honestly pretty good at it.

Gundham hoped to take care of pets of all kind one day, no matter the shape or size. I mean, he already had 4 hamsters that he called "The For Dark Devas of Destruction"... whatever that meant.

Souda, actually a childhood friend of mine, hoped that one day he would get over his motion sickness so that he could tinker with machines  _ all _ day and then be able to ride them.

Mikan hoped that she could simply become a nurse one day to help everyone in need.

Hiyoko hoped that she could show her traditional dance moves to everyone on stage one day (Even if she's really short).

And Fuyuhiko confessed that he didn't know what Peko hoped for. Though I bet it would be something cheesy as "true love" or anything like that.

Meanwhile, Izuru just stood aside, crossing his arms.  _ Did he... know it would go this way? _

"And what about  _ you? _ " Gundham pointed at me.

I sweat. I was actually hung up by my vest onto a nail that was lodging out of the roof's structure.

I awkwardly laughed: "Haha...  _ me? _ "

"Yes!" Ibuki shouted from the pub's stage, "What is  _ your _ one true hope??? Tell us, tell us!!"

"Nope, no can do," I hopped off of the nail that way holding me up, "I don't have hope."

Aaand everyone pointed a knife at me.

"Of course I have hope!" I sweat, "I always hoped to be really lucky one day and win a lottery!"

Nobody really looked impressed of course. But I couldn't tell them the  _ truth _ , could I?

Ibuki laughed: "Hell yeah, he's got  _ hope! _ " And she continued to play the guitar as everyone cheered.

  
  


"I found the guards!" Peko yelled as she entered the pub. Everyone became silent.

Quickly, I pulled Stormy aside, taking him by his hand.

"Where is  _ Naegi?! _ " The royal guard's captain yelled as she and a few other guards barged in, "I know he's in here  _ somewhere _ . Find him. Turn the whole place upside  _ down _ if you  _ have to! _ " She slammed her fist on the serving table that me and Izuru hid under. You could feel the entire table  _ vibrate _ from that slam.

Quickly, I decided to look up from the table edge to see what was happening currently. As soon as I looked, I regretted it.

_ Byakuya and Teruteru. They were captured by the guards. And they were  _ **_right here._ **

Izuru was staying calm as ever.  _ How the hell does he do that?! _

Suddenly, I saw a sword appear right in front of my eyes. Sweating, I turned my head to look on who it was. Thankfully, it was just Fuyuhiko.  _ Wait, since  _ **_when_ ** _ am  _ **_I_ ** _ thankful for Fuyuhiko?? Izuru has done something to me, I swear- _

"Hey, you fuckin' coming or what?" Fuyuhiko whispered.

"What are you, nuts?!" I whispered back, "You're just gonna turn us in-"

"Naegi, come on." Izuru started sneaking over to where Fuyuhiko was pointing.  _ What the hell... _

"Well?" Fuyuhiko whispered, glaring.

"Fine, fine." I gave up and followed Izuru.

Fuyuhiko had opened up a secret trapdoor that lead...  _ underground. _

"Come on, that should lead you both outside. Go... live your fuckin' hope or whatever." He huffed.

I smirked: "I will-"

"Your dream fuckin' stinks." He stopped me right in my tracks, "I was talkin' to him." He turned to Izuru.

I had already started going forward, when I heard Izuru reply: "Heh. Thanks."

  
  


**[3rd Person POV]**

"I believe  _ this _ is the guy you're looking for." Souda stood in front of the guards, holding a "Wanted" poster of Naegi in one of his hands and holding Hiyoko by her kimono with his other.

"Hey!" Hiyoko crossed her arms and fussed, "I'm not even a  _ guy! _ "

"Oh really? Didn't notice." Souda smirked his teethy grin.

The captain, Akane, just sighed and facepalmed herself. Though she stopped as she heard footsteps behind her.

"Ma'am!" One of the guards reported, "There's no sign of Naegi anywhere!"

Suddenly, they all heard neighing nearby, as the captain's horse broke through the door.

"Nekomaru!" Akane gasped, as Nekomaru, the horse, started sniffing the pub's floor, looking for Naegi's trail. He was basically a dog, of some sorts.

All of a sudden, he stopped, looking upwards and pushing the ruffians aside and walked forward.

"What's he doing?" One of the guards behind Akane murmured as she shut his mouth with her hand.

Nekomaru walked up to the serving table and pointed. Akane shook her head, confused.

He just rose his eyebrow as he pressed one of the levers nearby.

Suddenly, a hidden trapdoor opened, leading to the underground.

"A passage!" Akane gasped, "Come on guards, let's go!" She signaled as she ran towards the entrance.

"Hey, make sure those guys don't get away!" She shouted at one of the guards that stood behind, next to the two thieves they had just caught.

Byakuya just simply hit the lonesome guard, picked up the axe that he held and cut Teruteru's chains in half.

"Play it safe?" Teruteru asked as he took the axe as well and cut Byakuya's chains, "Or go get the crown?"

Byakuya just smirked, as they both went in the direction of the secret passageway.

Meanwhile, Big Sis Junko was looking at them through the corner of the pub's window, hatching her plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAaaaH U READ ALL OF THAT??? props to u man u kno how to read
> 
> Word count: 2972


	7. Mineshaft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "izuru holy shit you're a senior"  
> "no i'm not-"  
> "but,,,white hair,,,"  
> ",,,,you have white hair."  
> ",,,"
> 
> "fair point."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BRUHHH I AM SO SORRY IF THIS IS A MESS IT IS 8AM I HAVEN'T SLEPT AND MY BRAIN ISN'T FUNCTIONING SSO DURING THE RE-READ OF THE CHAPTER IDK WHAT I DID PLEASE BARE WITH ME  
> nghgfdf also friendly reminder that i'm latvian and that my first language isn't english so there is a possibility for grammar mistakes. sorry about that!!!

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

"Honestly, Stormy, I had no idea you had that in you. I mean, you just mentioned _hope_ and the whole _pub_ started talking about _their_ hope." I said, looking at him while holding a torch as we both walked through the underground path. It was filled with bones and skeletons, so some might say it was real creepy.

"Can you _stop_ calling me _Stormy?_ " Izuru still looked at me unimpressed, but he _was_ improving, I could tell, "But heh, thanks. To be honest, I don't know how I did that either." He crossed his arms.

Honestly, I felt more akin to Izuru than ever. Even though this guy had been stuck in a tower for so long, he still held _hope_. He just... never expressed it. But it was... really refreshing to see, especially since the entire kingdom is in despair. Well, except me of course, even I always have had a little bit of _hope_.

"Hah, sure you aren't, _Stormy_." I smirked and looked away.

He just sighed and continued going forward.

"So..." He started. _Well that's a first._ "Naegi, where are you from?" He turned his head back to me again.

I looked back in surprise: "Oh, sorry, Stormy, but I don't _do_ back-stories. Although, I _am_ interested in _yours_ though."

"Mine?" Izuru raised his eyebrow, still looking at me as we walked forward.

"Yeah." I started looking forward once more, "Now, as I understand, I'm not supposed to mention the hair."

"No, you aren't." He looked away.

"Ooor the sister." I continued.

"Nope." He replied quickly.

I shivered, looking back again: "Honestly, I'm too scared to ask about the worm..."

"Snake." He looked at me back as well, holding his _snake_ in his hands as it slithered onto it from his hair. _How... how did it survive in there..? Nope, too scared to ask._

"Here's my question though:" I raised my eyebrow, "If you wanted to see the lanterns so _badly_ , why haven't you gone before?"

"Oh..." Izuru stopped walked and looked at his snake, "Well..."

At this point I had also stopped.

Suddenly, small, _tiny_ rocks started falling from the ceiling of the underground mineshaft.

And they started shaking. Pretty violently. The entire place had started to shake at this point on.

"...Naegi...?" Izuru asked, looking around in confusion.

Then, we started hearing footsteps from the direction that we had gone in from. As I turned around, I saw _the royal guards._

" _....Naegi?_ " Izuru asked once more, looking at the guards as well.

The captain, who was at the front, yelled: "MAKOTO NAEGI!!!"

"...run. Run, run, run, run, _run._ " I repeated several times as we both turned around, trying to run away from them. Izuru picked up most of his hair so that they couldn't follow us as easily. _Must be a struggle for him._

And we ran. Ran as fast as we could, and the guards did so as well. When finally, we had reached the exit. But, it was basically a dead end. We had ended up on a cliff.

"Look." Izuru pointed at the cliff's edge. _There!_ There's a _ladder!_

It went way down to the very bottom which lead to a another cave. _That could be our escape!_

But, right when I thought we were being _really_ lucky, somebody broke out from another cave that was at the bottom that was sealed off with wood panels. The people who broke out? _Byakuya and Teruteru._

"Who's... who's _that?_ " Izuru whispered at me as I stayed close-by.

"They don't like me." I shivered once more, whispering back.

Then, as if my _luck couldn't be any better_ , the royals guards had caught up to us.

Izuru turned in their direction: '"Who's _that?_ "

"They don't like me either." I turned as well.

Then, all of a sudden, the _goddamn horse_ came right out from behind them.

Izuru yelled: "Who the hell is _that?!_ "

I looked at him: "Let's just assume that _everyone_ in here _doesn't like me._ "

He sighed, frustrated, then shoved his frying pan in my arms: "Here."

I looked at him, confused, as he took his hair and basically lassoed it to a broken wooden rail that was above us.

Then, he pushed himself off the cliff and swung to another cliff that was across us. I looked at him, clearly impressed. _Huh..._

I heard somebody laugh behind me. I turned around. It was the captain, Akane.

She grinned: "I've been waiting a long time for this." As she cracked her knuckles. Fun fact about Akane, she didn't fight with a sword. She fought with her _fists_.

_No, can't think about that now-_ She had already started coming forward, including the other guards. I sighed, then looked at the frying pan Stormy had given me. _Is this **really** a good idea-_

And then my thoughts ended, as I _barely_ managed to dodge Akane's attack. As I snapped back into reality, without thinking, I hit Akane in the head with the pan, causing her to faint.

Then another guard attacked. I hit them in the head as well. Same went for the two other ones. They had all fainted, laying still.

"Oh _man_ I've got to get myself one of _these!_ " I swung around as I looked at the frying pan I held. _Though, it's obviously just my luck being my luck as always._ Soon, something bad is going to happen-

As soon as I thought that, the horse had came up to me, dagger in his mouth.

"Of course." I mumbled to myself, slouching.

The horse was trying his best to try to stab me with it, but I reflected each and every one of his attacks with the pan.

"You should know that this is the _strangest_ thing I've _ever_ done!"

Well, of course, until he had managed to hit the frying pan out of my hands, making it fly off of the cliff.

**_CLANK_ **

"...How about two out of three?" I shrugged, looking at him. He snarled and pointed the dagger right at me.

" _Naegi!_ " Suddenly, I heard Izuru yell in the background as I stood still, hands up in defeat. Soon, I felt _hair_ wrap around my hand, as I got _yanked_ off of the cliff. I waved goodbye to the horse, smirking. I saw the horse's jaw _drop._

Izuru had tied his hair around a small rock that was lodging out of the cliff he was on. As I swung across, Izuru suddenly yelled: " _Naegi!_ Watch out!"

Both Teruteru and Byakuya were at the bottom. As they both prepared to strike with their blades, Izuru had pulled his hair _just_ enough for them to miss me by an _inch._

As continued swinging across, I started laughing, looking at them. Buuuut of _course_ , my luck had ran out once more, making me hit a wooden platform that was attached to the stone.

When I soon recovered, using the platform to climb up, I saw the horse had started to knock down one of the wooden pillars that was holding the old mineshaft together, as it got knocked down and water started bursting due to an old water dam being right next to it.

The pillar had been knocked down to act as a bridge between the cliff that I had just been on, and the cliff of where Izuru was on currently.

Currently, I was holding onto the end of his hair, standing on a part of the dam, shouting: "Come on, Stormy, jump!"

Izuru turned around in my direction, and just _did it._ He _jumped_. The horse had _almost_ grabbed him by his hair, but he missed. He swung, and then let go as he had made it to the bottom, sliding in the water that had leaked from the dam. Though, I was getting worried, as _Byakuya and Teruteru were at the bottom_.

I jumped off from where I was currently standing, when suddenly, the old water dam had _broke._

It had such a big _wave_ , that it had knocked out the guards, who had just gotten up from being unconscious, and the horse. It also had destroyed a lot of what was left of the old mineshaft. Byakuya and Teruteru tried to run, yelling, but the wave knocked them out as well.

Well, me and Izuru? We _ran._ As fast as we _could._ This one time, I was hoping my luck could turn for the better for _once_. As we ran in front of a giant, unstable, stone pillar, it helped the water stop, but only for just a few seconds, as it started pushing down the pillar, making it _fall_.

As it fell, we both yelled, running to one of the caves, _barely_ just making it inside there in time, saving us from being crushed. Also, I got to save the frying pan.

Though, the entryway was now blocked by that rock.

And, the cave was a dead end, as the water started to flow, it leaked through the small gaps that the rock that left, quickly filling up our hiding spot.

For once, Izuru was _worried_ , climbing up the rocks that lead us to a higher ledge, keeping us away from the water for a little bit longer. But, it had already started to reach my feet.

Hoping for an escape, I dived, looking around underwater. But alas, there was _nothing._

Izuru was also trying his best, taking the frying pan and trying to push the rocks with force. But, again, _nothing._

I climbed up again, grunting, trying to push the rocks with force. But, in the process-

" _Ow._ " I had cut my hand. Pretty deep, too.

I tried to dive in again. But, I found _nothing_.

Both me and Izuru were breathing heavily, not knowing how or what to do to escape.

"It's no use, I can't see anything." I breathed, still in pain from the wound on my hand.

Izuru breathed in, holding his breath, and dove underwater himself. I quickly pulled him up, worried about him. _I'm pretty goddamn sure he doesn't know how to swim._

"It's no use..." I sighed, putting my hands onto his shoulders, looking him in the eye, "It's pitch-black down there."

...

_Is there... no way out...?_

_This is my fault, isn't it?_

_It's my luck, isn't it?_

_All me?_

"I'm so sorry, Naegi..." Izuru breathed, looking away.

"...Huh?"

_Did he feel... sorry?_ "If I hadn't asked you to go outside with me, maybe..." He trailed off, then yelled out and slammed his fist to the wall, "Makoto, I am _so_ sorry!"

I stood there, silent. I couldn't tell because of the dark, but I think that he was... _crying_.

"...Nagito."

"...What?" He looked up at me, in confusion. _He was a mess of emotions right now. Poor guy._

"...My real name is Nagito Komaeda." I looked at him back, then smiled, "Someone might as well know..."

He smiled. For once, Izuru Kamakura _smiled._

"...I have magic hair that glows when I sing..."

"... _What?_ "

Izuru's eye went wide, as if he had just realized something.

"I... I have magic hair that _glows_ when I _sing!"_ He repeated, looking at me once more.

"Well, yeah, but-"

I... I found it hard to believe him. But, as the water levels rose, he started _singing_.

" _Hope gleam and glow, let your power shine-_ " Is all I heard before we both were submerged by the water.

I opened my eyes.

Then. The impossible happened.

Izuru's hair _glowed_. And not just glowed, but it had turned _white._

I gasped. Well, not really, it was underwater. But you could kind of hear me scream.

As Izuru's hair glowed, the cave was lit up, letting us see where there was a weak-spot between the rocks. And alas, we actually found it. The water was leaking out from a pile of rocks and bricks.

As I swam ahead, I started to tear down the rocks. One by one. Izuru swam behind me, also trying to help,

But, Izuru's "Glowing hair power" had started to run out, making everything go dark once more. But I _knew_ where the exit was, so just I kept on tearing it down.

_I had to save him._

Soon, my hand had reached outside, and as I tore a few more rocks down, the entire wall collapsed, causing both me and Izuru to fly out and land in a giant river.

As we reached the shore, we _gasped_ for air, coughing out excess water that was lodged into our throats, making it harder to breathe. Somehow, the worm had lived too.

"Phew..." Izuru breathed in, "We made it."

I took in the _sweet, sweet_ air that I had missed oh-so much. Then, it hit me: "His hair glows." I went wide-eyed.

"We're... alive." Izuru was still gasping for air as he crawled out of the water and got on dry land.

"I did not see that coming..." I looked at the snake who was still beside me, "His hair actually _glows._ "

"Nagito..." Izuru said in the background.

" ** _WHY DOES HIS HAIR GLOW???_** " I yelled at the snake, questioning my entire existence.

" _NAGITO!_ " Izuru yelled back, as he dragged his hair out of the water.

" _What?_ " I looked at him, desperate for answers.

"It doesn't _just_ glow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if u're asking no i am not okay *sleeps for 48h*
> 
> Word Count: 2206


	8. Campfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> junko fucking isn't right junko stop
> 
> also izuru realizes nagito is gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MMM I LIKED WRITING THIS ONE THAT'S FOR SURE  
> they're somft mmm care them deeply this is the scene i wanted to write the most while thinking of this au  
> hope you like it!!! i gave my own lil twists to the story

**[Izuru's POV]**

"It doesn't _just_ glow."

I smirked at him, being confident in myself for once.

Nagito (Yes, I have decided to call him by his real name now) was still halfway in the water, soaking wet as he looked at me, even more confused than ever, then looked down at Snakemi, who was next to him, smirking.

"Why is it smiling at me?" He looked at me again, worried. _What, do you think, I'm gonna kidnap you- oh wait._

As I dragged the rest of my hair out of the river and got most of the excess water out, I said: "Come on, get out of there." I smirked at him, "Unless... you _like_ staying there? Which of course, I don't mind, just don't blame me if you get sick." And I turned around, crossing my arms.

" _Hey!_ " I could hear him shout, getting out of the water and running after me. Snakemi hissed after him, slithering along.

**[3rd Person POV]**

After the entire water dam incident, Junko, who was currently hooded, was hiding herself behind a tree, dagger in hand, preparing to _strike_ , as she was near one of the trapdoors that led out of the mine. She didn't know that Izuru and Naegi had escaped through a different... _route_ , per say.

She heard someone climbing up to the trapdoor. Thinking that it was the one thief she was out for, she had started sneaking towards it, preparing herself.

Though, who climbed put was the final person she suspected.

With a surprised look on her face, she saw one of the other two thieves climb out. Teruteru.

Quickly, she went back and hid behind a large boulder, keeping her eye on the trapdoor. Not long after, the second thief got out. Byakuya.

They were both coughing out the excess water that had gotten into their lungs after the huge wave that hit them Both of them had somehow managed to survive. But, they had not gotten the crown that they were after.

"I'll kill him..." Teruteru gasped, "I'll kill that Naegi!"

Junko looked... _intrigued._ So, they hated the same exact thief that she was after. _Maybe this could go even better than she had planned._

"We'll cut him off at the kingdom and get back the crown." Byakuya suggested, starting walk forward already, "Come on!"

" _Or..._ " Junko sang out loud, making sure that the two thieves would hear her.

They turned around, and saw her, un-hooded, on top of the boulder she was hiding just behind a few seconds ago: "Perhaps you want to stop acting like _wild dogs_ , chasing their _tails_ and _think_ for a moment." She pulled out the _satchel_ , making the thieves go wide-eyed.

Then, they started glaring at her, pulling out their blades and preparing to fight.

Junko laughed: "Oh what are you, fuckin' idiots?" She threw the satchel at them. As Teruteru caught it, Byakuya pushed himself to him, and trying to grab the satchel, to see if _it_ was actually in there.

Alas, yes it was. The crown of the lost prince was in there. They both smirked, looking straight at it.

"Well, if that's all you desired," Junko sang, "Then be on your way." She looked away, smirking to herself, "I _was_ going to offer you something worth _1,000 crowns_ , would've made you rich beyond _belief_ , believe me," She laughed, "And that wasn't even the best part! But oh well, see you, losers! Enjoy your crown!" And she finally turned around, preparing just walk away, when suddenly, Teruteru _dared_ to ask:

"...What's the best part...?"

She turned around, grinning: "It comes with _revenge_ on _Makoto Naegi._ " Pulling out the poster that she had found in the satchel before.

Teruteru and Byakuya looked at each other, smirking.

_Junko's plan was going smoothly._

**[Izuru's POV]**

It was already dark out here. We had set up a campfire to warm up, which honestly, I didn't know how to set up, Nagito did most of the work. We also set it up to dry ourselves off. But of course, to _talk_ as well.

Currently, I was wrapping some of my hair around Nagito's injured arm. It looked pretty serious, so it was good that I could do _this._

"Sooo...." Nagito started, breaking the silence, "You're being awfully cryptic as you wrap your magic hand around my-" He grunted in pain, "Injured hand.."

"Calm down, otherwise you'll hurt it more." I breathed in. _Oh God I'm gonna do it._ "Just... don't freak out... Promise?"

I closed my eyes.

"Stormy, what could you be _possibly_ talking about-"

I cut him off as I started singing. I... never liked signing. Junko always told me that I was off with my notes and that I was bad at it. So, I believed her, of course, but... she still asked me to sing it _so_ often, that... I didn't know if she was telling the truth.

"Hope... gleam... and glow..." I could feel my hair doing it's _thing._ I could also tell that Nagito was staring at me. Probably still in shock.

"Let.. your power... shine..."

"Make the clock reverse... Bring back what once was mine..."

"Heal what has been hurt..." By this point, the glow should have reached Nagito's wound, "Change the fates' design... Save what has been lost... Bring back what once was mine..."

"...What once was mine...."

As I finished, I opened up my eyes to look at Nagito. As he realized that I had done what I had to, he quickly lifted up his arm and removed the hair wrapped around it. His... reaction was to be expected.

He stood silent for a few seconds, going wide-eyed. Then, he looked at me, turning his hand around so that I could see what I had done. He turned it back to his direction, continuing to stare at it. Still, he stood silent.

"Please don't freak out..." I sighed and looked away. _He probably thinks I'm a freak..._

" _Nooo_ , I'm not freaking out it's just that..." He looked at me, "You healed my _hand._ How long have you been able to _do that?_ "

"Uhh..." I sweat, "Forever, I guess...?" Then, I sighed, looking to the ground, "Big Sis Junko always says when I was only just a baby, people tried to cut my hair. They... they wanted to take it for themselves..." I reached out my hand to the back of my head, lifting my hair up, revealing _light brown hair_ , "But, when it gets cut, it... it turns _light brown_ and loses its power..."

Junko always told me it's from the time that someone cut it the day that I was born.

Nagito just looked at me, sympathetically.

"A gift like that..." I continued, removing my hand from my hair, "Has to be.. protected. That's why Big Sis never let me..." I turned my head to look at Naegi, "That's why... I never left and..." And once more I looked away, being unable to finish my sentence.

But, Nagito spoke up: "...You never left that tower." I looked him in the eyes.

"But... you're still going to go back?" Nagito asked, concerned.

"No! I mean..." I sulked, "...Yes." Then put my face in my palms, sighing, "It's... complicated."

I could feel Snakemi slither up to my arm to comfort me. _Thanks, buddy._

I looked up at Nagito through the gaps of my fingers, then awkwardly smiled and straightened myself out. I breathed out. _It felt... pretty good to tell him all that._

"So..." I started, looking at him, " _Nagito Komaeda_ , huh?"

"Ah, yeah, well..." He awkwardly laughed, "I'll spare you the poor sob story of how Nagito's parents died when he was very young. It's a little bit of a... downer."

I looked at him, smiling, to let him know that he can continue.

He seemed to get the signal, since he _did_ continue: "There was this.. _book_ I used to read _every night_ as a kid. _"The Hope called Makoto Naegi_. _"_ He was such an inspiration to me about hope that I... When I got older and realized that the currently lost prince is the _Ultimate Hope_ , I decided that I should... be the person to find him." He sighed, looking down, "So... since my _real_ name doesn't bring any hope to anyone because of my luck, I decided to call myself _Makoto Naegi_ from that point on, stealing what was necessary to continue life and... to find that hope of mine. Because, as a kid.. becoming a thief just seemed like the better option..."

As his story seemed to end, he stated: "Though you can't tell anyone about this. Got it? It could.. ruin my entire reputation."

I looked away and laughed: "We wouldn't know that."

As I looked back, I realized that Nagito's mouth was wide open.

"Hey... you okay?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You..." He breathed, "You _laughed_. Izuru Kamakura. _Laughed._ "

I suddenly realized what he meant by that. _I... I laughed..?_ If I think about it, I have.. _never_ laughed back in the tower... let alone _smiled_. Or have any emotions at _all._

"Wow, well look at that," I wondered "What have you done to me, Nagito Komaeda?"

He was the one now laughing: "Geez, must be my luck."

"Huh... what do you mean by _your_ luck? You mentioned it a few times by now." I suddenly got curious, wanting to know more about him.

"Well..." He calmed down, "You know about people with _Ultimate talents_ , right?"

"Oh, yeah, I read about them in a book!" I thought back to it, remembering the contents, "It stated that it was quite rare to have one naturally."

"Well..." He continued, " _I_ have an Ultimate talent."

I looked at him in surprise, wide eyed: "Really? What is it, then?"

He then slouched, looking down: "It... it really isn't anything great, to be honest. Not something that would bring _hope_ to everyone..."

"Doesn't matter." I pouted, "You're gonna have to tell me now since we have started this conversation."

"Alright, alright, I..." He still was looking down, "I'm the _Ultimate Luck_."

"Huh?" I pondered, "Well, that isn't bad at all! Especially as a thief!"

"Well, it has it's major downsides." He looked at me, "If something really _good_ happens, something really _bad_ happens sooner or later. Basically how I got to steal the satchel back from Teruteru and Byakuya and escape without being caught, but then a few minutes later getting to fall down a cliff. I'm pretty useless, huh..?"

I thought for a bit, thinking of what to reply with. Then, I got it.

"Well, despite that, you're not useless at all. No matter if you straight up win a lottery, but then later lose all of the money or not, you're still you. Your luck doesn't change who you truly are. And if something bad happens, so _what?_ You're still gonna get through it, and then come back better than ever."

"Huh..." Nagito sat silent. I didn't say anything either, letting him think for a bit.

"You're... you're right." He looked at me and smiled softly, "Since when did you feel this way about me? I thought that you _hated me?_ " He teased.

" _Hey,_ I _did_ hate you, y'know." I glared at him, then looked away, blushing slightly, "But... I realized that deep down, you're actually a pretty good person, so..."

"Wow, how _cheesy._ " He smirked.

" _Hey,_ you're the one who _asked!_ " I pouted, crossing my arms. But soon enough, we both laughed.

As we stopped, we looked into each others eyes. _~~what is this feeling so sudden and new-~~_

__

Nagito soon broke the silence, looking at the campfire: "Well, I should probably get some more wood." And got up, starting to walk towards the woods.

"Hey, Nagito..?"

He turned around to look at me: "Yeah?"

"To.. to be honest, I..." I smiled at him once more, "I like Nagito Komaeda _way_ more than _Makoto Naegi_."

"Huh... really?" He looked at me, smiling as well. "Well, you'd be the first one to say that, but... Thanks."

He thought for a second, then asked: "Hey, Izuru?"

"Yeah?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You... you have a pretty singing voice." And then he turned around, starting to walk. I could see him still looking at his recently-healed hand.

I could feel myself getting flustered, murmuring: "Th... Thanks..."

Smiling to myself, I sighed. _He's... he's the first person to every say that to me..._

" _Well_ , I thought he'd _never_ leave."

I suddenly stopped in my tracks as my eyes widened. _I'd recognize that voice **anywhere**._

I turned my head around as quick as possible, shivering: " _...Junko?_ " I barely even managed to whisper.

She took off her hood, checking her nails: "Hello, _dear._ "

"I- but I- I don't-" Big Sis had started coming towards me. I could see Snakemi quickly hid away somewhere.

Suddenly, she hugged me. Although, I was still confused.

"How... how did you _find_ me?" I gasped. _Her hair was looking... grayer.. than usual..._

She laughed: "Ooh, it was easy, really... I just listened for the sound of _complete and utter betrayal_ and followed that!" And finished with a smile.

I sighed: "Sis..."

"We're going home, Izuru." She let go of me and grabbed me by my arm, clenching her teeth, " _Now._ "

She had already started walking forwards, when I stopped her: "You.. You don't understand! ...I've been on this incredible journey and I... I've _seen_ and... and _learned_ so _much_..." Even though she's denied my ideas before, I... I was _hoping,_ "I... I even _met someone._ "

She rolled her eyes: "Yees, the wanted thief, I'm _so_ proud." And yanked my arm to force me to come forward, "Come **_on._** "

"Junko, _wait._ " I forced my arm out of her hand, "I..."

" _I think he likes me..._ "

" _Likes **you**?_" She laughed in her usual way, " _Please_ , Izuru, that's _demented!_ "

"But Sis, I-"

" _This_ is why you should have _never_ fuckin' _left_." She walked, sighing, "Dear, this whole _romance_ thing you've invented..." And walked up behind me, whispering in my ear, "Just proves you're too _stupid_ to be out here."

" _Why the hell_ would he like _you?_ Come on, _really._ " Turning and coming in front of ne, grabbing my hair from both sides, " _Look at you!_ You think he's fucking _impressed?_ "

I looked at her in disbelief. _Where is she getting at?_

Then she walked in the direction that she was leading me to, sweetly looking at me, arms wide open: "Don't be a dummy, come with Sis!" And started to sing: "Junko-"

" ** _No._** " I said, fiercely.

For once, I... I said no to one of Junko's ideas. I... _I didn't want to go back._

"...No?" Junko looked at me, shocked, then smirked, "Oh, I see how it is..."

And she started coming towards me, laughing again: "Izuru knows _best_ , Izuru's so _mature now_ , disobeying his own sister's orders _now._ " She patted my head, "Izuru knows _best. Fine_ , if you're so _sure_ now... Go ahead and give him **_this!_** " She turned away, and pulled out the...

_The satchel._

"How... how did you-"

And she pulled out the... _shiny thing_ from it, continuing to laugh: " _This_ is why he's _here_ , don't let him _deceive you._ " And threw it at me, as I barely managed to catch it, fumbling around.

She sang: "Fucking _give it to him_ , watch, you'll _see-_ "

"I _will!_ " I retorted back at her.

" _Trust me_ , my _dear,_ that's how fast he'll _leave you!_ " She smirked at me once more, still laughing once in a while. _Why... why are her eyes so... blurred?_

But before I could figure _that_ out, she came towards and put the satchel around me, laughing: "I won't say _I told you so!_ "

Now, I had the satchel.

" _No,_ Izuru knows _best,_ so, if he's such a _dreamboat_ , go ahead and put him to the _test._ " She spat.

She had already walking away from me. I...

"Sis, _wait!_ "

"If he's lying... don't come _crying._ " She glared at me one last time, " _Junko... knows best!_ "

And... she was gone. She left me with the... _thing_ in hand and satchel on my shoulder.

Suddenly, I heard Nagito shouting at me, asking: "Hey, so, I have a question..." he came back, carrying a pile of wood, "Is there any chance I will get super strength in my hand?" And laughed to himself, "Because I'm not gonna lie, that would be _amazing._ "

But, he stopped, looking concerned.

"Hey, you alright..?"

I had currently turned my back on him. I... I had hid the satchel with the _thing_ somewhere at the moment... Just... _What if Junko was right?_

"Oh?" I turned around and fretted, "Sorry, just lost in thought, I guess."

He shrugged, not trying to push it further, and put the wood down and continued his previous topic: "Because, here's the thing - _Superhuman strength_. Can you i _magine_ the possibilities of _that?_ " He laughed.

**[3rd person POV]**

Junko, Teruteru and Byakuya were all hiding not too far away from the campfire, so they could hear and maybe see what was going on over there.

The two thieves were about to just go _after him_ and _kill him_ , but Junko stopped them, putting her hand in front:

"Patience, boys. _All good things come to those who wait..._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a nagito cardboard cutout now
> 
> Word Count: 2872


	9. The Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> komaeda is gay and izuru doesn't know why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aa a a a a a sorry for not updating a bit sooner!!! i was in estonia all day yesterday and i even lost my phone for a good hour lmao- i got it back though no worries.  
> i was just rlly tired since i had to wake up early- also, i've started playing drv3 finally so!!! let's go lesbians let's go
> 
> big shoutout to madi for helping me with choosing flowers for *that* scene lolol  
> if ure curious, u should search up the meaning behind those flowers ;)))) trust me
> 
> again, thank u all for the support!!! 80+ kudos is a lo t

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

I felt... something wet drip on my cheek. _...Rain? But it's so sunny outside, I can feel it on my skin._

Currently, it was morning - me and Izuru had slept outside in the grass for the night. It was quite warm, so we didn't have to worry too much, we just had to have the campfire because we were in the water for so long, so that we wouldn't catch a cold.

Anyways, back to the current situation at hand - I slowly woke up, opening one of my eyes to see what was going on - I should not have done that, turns out.

What I saw was...

_The horse._

It was breathing heavily, water dripping down from it's hair and the water that was on my cheek - that was from him, yes. I guess he just got out of the water from the whole mineshaft situation.

I closed my eye and laid my head back down: "Well, I _hope_ you're here to apologize."

Well, that was a bad idea as _well,_ since the horse started dragging me by my foot though the grass. I screamed to get _his_ attention, otherwise I'd be stuck like this forever.

I could see Izuru get up soon after, coming to see what the hell was going on. So was his snake. _Snakemi,_ I think? Izuru told me her name yesterday and how he met her. Pretty rough for him to have to hide her every time from his own sister. You would think that she would at _least_ let him keep a _pet_ , since he's literally stuck in a tower. Well, Izuru doesn't really refer to Snakemi as a _pet_ , per say, more like a _friend_. Well, whatever he feels is best, I guess.

"Izuru oh my God help me." I said, not really bothered to be honest. I just didn't want to get kidnapped again. _Although_ , there _was_ grass getting in my hair, so that bothered me somewhat.

He soon ran towards me, grabbing me by my hands and trying to pull away from the horse. Though, he wasn't really strong due to not running around anywhere for 18 years. But still, he had _hope_ , which I found to be _remarkable._

He pulled, and pulled, grunting a few times, so did the horse, _aaand_ Izuru got me free at last. Although, the horse _did_ get my boot. Because of the pulling, all three of us fell down, making us basically sit. The horse soon realized what had just happened, and he got up, neighed, huffing and puffing, still having my boot between his teeth. _Oh God what if he eats it-_

Though, surprisingly, Izuru ran towards it, saying: "Woah, calm the _hell_ down." Holding his hands forwards. The horse was ready to charge just now, so... win-win?

" _Easy_ , boy, _easy._ " He kept trying to calm it (... _him?_ ) down, which took him quite a bit of effort, since it was _really_ focused on trying to trample me just now.

Soon enough though, it stopped, slowing down it's huffs and puffs.

"Easy..." Izuru looked at it, moving his hands slowly. Somehow, that worked. _Huh._

Currently, Snakemi was on his head too, who just proceeded to glare at the horse.

"Now... _sit._ " Izuru did some movements with his hands, and soon, the horse sat down. _How is he doing this? It's... **amazing!**_

"What??" I exclaimed, still sitting in the back.

"Now drop the boot." Izuru gestured down with his hands, though, the horse neighed in protest. Izuru glared: " _Drop it._ " With a sterner voice this time. Soon enough, the horse _actually_ dropped it! _Is Izuru just really good with animals or am I missing something here?_

"Awh," He smiled at it, "Who's a good boy?" He patted it's head, and for some reason, the horse started _waving it's tail? Do.. do horses work this way?_

"Are you tired from chasing this _bad, bad_ man all over the place?" Izuru looked at it sympathetically, starting to scratch it's neck. The horse nodded, pouting.

" _Excuse me?_ " I crossed my arms. _Shaking my head, Izuru, I thought we became closer because of last night._

"Nobody appreciates you, do they?" He spoke in a gentle tone, still patting the horse. It sadly nodded, neighing.

"But- He's a _bad horse!_ " I exclaimed again, raising my hands in objection.

"Oh, Nagito, he's just a loyal horse, that's all." He looked at me, then back at the horse, "Isn't that right..." Looking at it's nametag that every royal guard horse had, he continued, "...Nekomaru?"

He neighed happily, still being scratched by Izuru.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." I muttered. Turns out Nekomaru heard it though, as he looked at me, glaring.

"Okay look, you guys," Izuru started talking again, "Today is... _kind of_ a big day for me, and, the thing is:" He came up to me and got me back on my feet real quick, dragging me by the hand, making me almost fall again, and looked at Nekomaru, directing the convo towards him, "I need you to _not_ get him arrested."

He huffed in objection. Izuru smiled at him, " _Just_ for 24 hours, and _then_ you can chase each other how much you guys please. _Got it?_ "

I sighed, giving in. It's Izuru, after all. Lifting up my hand open wide to shake... _hooves_ (?) with him. Though, Nekomaru looked away and huffed once more, still not giving in. _Come **on,** it's for Izuru._

"Also, it's my birthday, so..." He seemed to mutter to himself, though Nekomaru seemed to hear, as he pouted, giving in. _Welcome to my world, buddy_.

He looked at me, though he did _not_ look happy about it, lifted up his hoof, and shook... _hands_ (?) with me.

After the agreement though, we started glaring at each other silently. While we were at _that_ though, Izuru suddenly started going forward, pushing out hands/hooves aside, focusing his attention to one thing - the _town_ _bells,_ that I didn't hear for a second because of Nekomaru.

Though, as soon Izuru stopped paying attention to us, and I was looking to where he was going, Nekomaru hit me in the guts with his hoof, making me yelp and fall down in pain. He smirked, having a _weirdass_ grin on his face.

**[Izuru's POV]**

I ran towards the bridge that connected to... _the kingdom._

I've read that it's called Jabberwock kingdom... a little weird, but I think the history was that it turns out this whole place is an island that was found as Jabberwock island? So, they built a palace here, and soon, an entire town. So, there's that at least.

I was actually pretty excited, to be honest. Who knows what I'm gonna find here? And the _lanterns_ I've been oh-so waiting for are _tonight..._

As I started going across the bridge, I heard Nagito and Nekomaru bickering in the background, I turned around and glared, pointing my finger towards the kingdom's entrance. Both of them looked at me an sighed, soon getting back to walking.

After some more fighting and bickering over the two, we finally made it to the town. I saw _so many people_. All so _different_... And the streets were all covered with little flags with a sun symbol, so I'm guessing it's related to this day?

Everyone around looked so... _hopeful_ that... I found it hard to believe both Nagito and Junko about all the despair stories.

As I tried to go forward, I soon enough started bumping into people:

" _Sorry!_ "

" _Oh- I apologize-_ "

And some even stepped on my hair, which I did _not_ like. Nagito was a bit behind me, so he started gathering up some of the hair along the way, and so did I. Nekomaru soon came up to us too. As if Nagito was thinking for a solution to my... _hair_ , he looked around, and he pointed. I looked as well, and saw some little girls braiding each other's hair by the fountain. Nagito whistled, making the girls look over our way, as he smirked over my long hair.

The girls gasped, so to say.

They all ran around, braiding my hair as I sat down. Though, I saw Nagito run to a field nearby. _Huh... I wonder what he's doing._

Soon enough though, they had finished. I got up, and looking to my back, I realized that the braid was actually fairly pretty, and I gasped slightly. I smiled, looking at the girls: "Thank you..." Though my eyes soon paid attention to the side, as I saw Nagito running back, his hands full of... _something._

He soon enough had run over to my braid, and I could tell that he was putting _something_ in it.

As he got up again, I turned my head once more, looking at the braid. I gasped, only a bit louder this time.

_He... he put flowers in my braid?_

"Heh, sorry, I just..." He scratched the back of his neck, sweating, "I just really like flowers and... your braid seemed like the best option, so..."

The braid was covered with a lot of flowers, especially orchids and peach blossoms (I thought I saw some of those trees around...), and a lot of clovers too. _Is that.. a four-leaf clover? How did he-_ oh yeah Ultimate Luck.

He looked away, nervous: "Oh, I get it if you don't like it, it's pretty useless anyway-"

"Nagito, please, it's not useless." I put my hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye, "And still, I... I love it. Makes my hair feel more special other than just it being magical."

He looked honestly shocked: "R..Really?" Looking away again, I could see him slightly blush for some reason, "Well, I'm glad... I just never get to share my interests in flowers to anyone, y'know?"

I smiled once more, taking my hands off of Nagito's shoulders: "Huh, who would've ever though - _Makoto Naegi_ , the elusive lucky thief - Interested in _flowers?"_

" _Hey!_ " He fretted, "You'll ruin my reputation if you say that so loud!"

I laughed, and soon enough, he joined me.

_Yep. I definitely like Nagito Komaeda more than Makoto Naegi._

As we went though the town exploring, we saw _so many things._ I mean, Nagito has probably already seen all of this, but for me, this was like a whole new _world_. The books never mentioned it being _this_ amazing!

Currently, we were waiting in line for a person selling some food. These types of sellers were all over town - seems like a tradition for them just for this day.

As I looked around while waiting, I saw something... _peculiar._

Nagito was in front of me in line, so I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I got out for a second... I walked forward to where I was looking, and taking a closer look, I saw... a wall monument of a family of four - which seemed to be the king, queen, the princess, looking to be at the age of 8, and... a small, baby boy, who seemed to be the new-born prince. He had dark brown hair and... _yellow and red eyes._

"It's for the lost hope!" A little girl seemed to say, showing her little brother, that was held by their mother, a flower that she had put down next to the monument. There were several other gifts next to it too, though mostly they were just flowers.

I looked at the image in front of me in curiosity. For some reason, that _prince_ , he... _there was something odd about him..._

Suddenly, I heard music playing. I... I never have listened to music back in the tower, so it really was an experience to hear something so _amazing._ I soon had started slightly dancing to the music, without even myself noticing, until I saw other people joining around me, dancing as well. The music was pretty upbeat, so I could see why that was the case. Mentally to myself, I said _fuck it_ and just started dancing out even more, being happier than I've ever been. With the corner of my eye, I could the Nagito standing in the corner, crossing his eyes and smirked at me as he held the food that he bought from the seller. I looked at him, smirking as well, raising my eyebrow, basically telling him to join me. He shook his head in denial.

Though, Nekomaru was right next to him, so he just _pushed_ Nagito forward, making him trip forward and drop all of the food that he was holding.

Although, it seemed like he noticed something, so he went somewhere. I went there was well, wondering what he had seen. Turns out, it was a seller selling some... necklaces with the sun symbol. _Huh, that's odd, why would Nagito-_

But I soon had stopped thinking as Nagito had already bought it, giving it to me: "Just thought you'd like to have this day's symbol since it's so special to you."

I smiled, taking and putting it around my neck: "Thanks, Nagito."

Once more, he looked away, slightly blushing.

During the entire day, we had went to several different locations:

We had went to buy some cupcakes, but there were guards around, so we had to eat them in secret, hiding in an alleyway, smirking.

We also went to the local library, and I learned a lot more about this kingdom - the prince in the monument that I saw? That was Hajime Hinata, a former prince that seemed to be lost for 18 years now, and he was also the Ultimate Hope. Ever since his disappearance, the Jabberwock kingdom had fell into despair, that someone had even killed the former king and queen, making Chiaki, the Ultimate Gamer, also the former princess, the current queen.

Though, what I wondered most about is why I never knew about this from the books that Junko had brought me... I mean, I _have_ read books about the kingdom, and they _did_ have some torn out pages... though when I asked Junko about them, she always said something like "Oh, it probably was someone really evil that tore those out for themselves. But- I had several books in that condition, so I always thought of it as being off...

Nagito also told me a lot of interesting facts about Ultimates, as it turns out, everyone in the pub that we were previously in is an Ultimate. _So **that's** why all their hopes were so specific._ He also told me stories of how Kazuichi Souda, the Ultimate Mechanic, and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, the Ultimate Yakuza were all friends when they were kids, but... _things_ happed and they split up. I... I do hope they reconnect their ties together one day, though.

It felt like... me and Nagito were getting closer, I just... _hoped_ that Nagito thought that too.

We had danced throughout the day too, though. The people cheered, switching partners as we went around in a circle. Soon enough though, I could see Nagito getting closer to me as we continued to dance, though I could tell that the song was coming to an end.

And, almost as if it was a coincidence, on the very final beat, we ended up in each other's arms. I could feel my cheeks warm up. Though, _that_ moment was soon over, as somebody in the crowd yelled: " _To the boats!_ ", so I let go of Nagito, though I saw him slightly blush again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER IS THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT SCENE WOAOAOAOWOAOAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> Word Count: 2583


	10. Lanterns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> very gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LONGGG CHAPTERRRR  
> longest one so far hmhmhmm m m  
> this chapter has the song lyrics to "i see the light" written down, so if you want to, bring out the song and play it in the background at the scene it starts!!  
> though that scene is pretty empty so i'm sorry if it's quite messy dhgdghd
> 
> also, note: even tho this fic is almost finished, updates will be coming a bit slower than usual- i have a summer camp starting tomorrow at 9am that ends at 3pm each day and huu i'll have to fix my sleeping schedule for it. hope you guys understand!! will still try to update whenever i can.

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

We soon sailed away from the dock, Nekomaru looked at me, confused as of what he was supposed to do now.

I thought for a second, then smirked: "Hey, Nekomaru!" I picked up a bag that we had taken with us on the boat and threw it to the dock in his direction. The bag fell forward, revealing a load of red, juicy looking apples.

Nekomaru looked at me suspiciously, doubting me. _Pretty sure he's thinking I stole them..._

" _What?_ I bought them!" I pouted, turning around.

I could hear Nekomaru sigh and start eating the apples soon enough. _Man, that horse loves apples._ Though, I couldn't really blame him.

"...Most of them." I smirked. I heard him neigh in confusion in the background.

As I started paddling the boat, Izuru, who currently had his back turned on me, asked: "Where are we going, Nagito?"

He still had his hair braided, and no matter how many times I asked if they were okay, Izuru had kept the flowers I put in his hair. I had a huge thing for flowers, to be honest. Pretty sure my sister taught me most of the flower language and meanings behind them, I think? Man, I do sort of miss her some days.

The flowers I had put in were orchids and peach blossoms. Some clovers, too. Orchids, and of course, clovers, represented luck. But peach blossoms..? They represented...

_romance._

Cheesy, I know, but... Hey, I gotta be subtle about these type of things. He... he probably doesn't feel the same way about me, anyways. Why would someone as amazing as Izuru Kamakura like _me?_ Sure, he was trapped in a tower for 18 years, but there was something... _special_ about him. And no, it wasn't his hair, it... _it was something else, I just didn't know what._

I decided to push my thoughts aside and just focus on _him_ : "Best day of your life? _Well,_ I figured you should at _least_ have a decent seat." I put Snakemi, who was on my shoulder, aside. Yeah, she was also coming along. I mean, I couldn't argue with Izuru over _Snakemi_ , he would kill me.

As I kept paddling, soon enough, we were quite a distance away from shore - far enough to see the entire kingdom. It was quite dark outside, and only some lights from the town's window's glowed. Except for the stars in the sky, of course.

At this point, Izuru had turned himself in the direction of the kingdom. I decided to do the same, too. Though, when I turned my head to look at Izuru, I saw him sigh and look away.

I decided to break the silence: "Hey... You okay?" _I wonder what's wrong?_

"I'm... I'm terrified..." I could see him _tremble_.

I furrowed my brows, but decided to not ask him too much, just: "...And why's that?"

"I've been... Looking out of a window for _18 years_ , and... _hoping_ that one day I would be able to see the lights that appear in the sky in person. But..." He looked up to the sky, wondering, "...What if it's not everything I _hoped_ it would be?"

I kept looking at him, my face gazing at him softly: "It will be."

He smiled, sadly, and looked me in the eyes: "And what if it is? What do I do then?"

Turning my head and looking into the water, I shrugged: "That's the good part, I guess... You get to go find a new hope." And once more, turned my head to him, smiling. It must be contagious, somehow, because he smiled, too.

And we both stared off into the water ahead of us.

**[3rd Person POV]**

Sighing, Queen Chiaki looked down at her feet, sad once more. She didn't show her sadness in front of her people, though. She... she had to stay strong... for Hajime. For her little brother.

Most of the kingdom has already lost hope, believing that he wouldn't return. This... this is the 18th year of his disappearance, _and_ his birthday. But, despite everything, Chiaki never lost hope. She just... felt lost. With nobody there to guide her, she had to watch over an entire kingdom that had fallen into despair long ago. With their Ultimate Hope gone, they doubted that the Ultimate Gamer could do anything.

But, alas, the kingdom was in peace. At least, to the outside world. Jabberwock Kingdom was having a war with _itself_ , trying to figure out what had happened to their precious _hope_.

Chiaki picked up her tiara and put it on - it suit her pretty well, to be honest, but she never expected to wear it so _soon._ Even after 10 years of ruling the kingdom, she still wanted to go _back_ and try to save her parents. But there was nothing she could do now.

Walking up to the balcony door, she sighed once more, mentally preparing herself. This was the only day where the kingdom was at peace because of tradition. This... this was that one day where everyone had at least a _little bit of hope_ that the prince would return soon.

As she opened it, she saw the lantern. The _one_ special lantern with the sun symbol on it. This was the lantern that she and her parents used to lift up into the night sky when hoping for Hajime's return, but now... it was _her_ duty.

Slowly walking up to it, with the upmost care, she gently lifted it up, making it fly away.

Chiaki didn't realize it, but a tear streaked down her face as she did that.

**[Izuru's POV]**

While waiting, Nagito had picked out some of the flowers from my hair, as I took them from my hand and gently put them in the water, watching them float away. It was... pretty relaxing.

Though, as I looked into the water, I saw the castle's reflection and...

_A lantern._

My eyes widened, realizing that the time had come.

_♪...All those days watching from the windows._ _♪_

Quickly, my eyes bolted upwards, seeing a single lantern fly from the castle's balcony.

 _♪All those years, outside looking in._ _♪_

I got up on my feet, making the boat stumble in the water and making Nagito fall forward, making him lay in the boat on his back between the seats.

 _♪All that time never even knowing,_ _♪_

I rushed over to the front of the boat, making it turn in the direction of the island.

 _♪Just how blind I've been._ _♪_

Suddenly, I saw it. Hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ of lanterns going up into the air, following the first one. I smiled, sighing.

 _♪Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight._ **_♪_ **

Lanterns even arose from the ships that stood still, lighting up the sky I gazed my eyes upon. It almost felt... _magical._

 _♪Now I'm here, suddenly I see,_ _♪_

 _♪Standing here, it's all so clear,_ _♪_

 _♪I'm where I'm meant to be._ _♪_

I continued to smile, looking everywhere. It all felt... too _good_ to be _true._

_♪And at last I see the light._ _♪_

 _♪And it's like the fog has lifted._ _♪_

I looked over at the ships once more, seeing all kinds of people, and even _kids_ lifting up their lanterns.

 _♪And at last I see the light._ _♪_

 _♪And it's like the sky is new_.♪

My face became soft, eyes sparkling. It was like... looking at the stars but... _so much better._

 _♪And it's warm, and real, and bright._ _♪_

 _♪And the world has somehow shifted_.♪

_♪All at once, everything looks different._ _♪_

Suddenly, something hit me. I... I wouldn't be here without...

I turned my head, my eyes focusing on...

 _♪Now that I see..._ _♪_

**_him._ **

_♪..you._ _♪_

Nagito was holding two lanterns in his hands, smirking at me as he raised his eyebrow.

I rushed over to him, sitting down and realizing what I had to do.

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

I saw Izuru stumble on his words quite a bit. _That's new_.

But then, he started: "I... I have something for you." And pulled out the _satchel_ , "I should have given it to you before, but... I was just.. _scared._ "

I looked at him in confusion.

"Well, the thing is..." He struggled with his words, trying to make the correct sentence, "I'm not scared anymore. You... You know what I mean?" He shrugged.

I put my hand forwards, placing it on the satchel and pushing it aside. Izuru looked at me, confused.

I smiled, my gaze softening: "...I'm starting to."

He smiled at me back, taking one of the lanterns from my hands, as we both lifted them up and watched them fly upwards.

 _♪All those days, chasing down a daydream._ _♪_

 _♪All those years, living in a blur._ _♪_

 _♪All that time, never truly seeing,_ _♪_

 _♪Things, the way they were._ _♪_

I watched the two lanterns twirl around each other, then set my gaze onto _him,_ smiling to myself. _My luck is being real nice to me today..._

At this point, the entire night sky was filled with light, making everything... _perfect,_ for _once._

 _♪Now he's here, shining in the starlight._ _♪_

Izuru smiled widely, pointing towards one of the lanterns that was flying towards us above the water. I could see his red eye sparkle with excitement.

 _♪Now he's here, suddenly, I know._ _♪_

It had the sun symbol on it, which was interesting. He reached out his hand, lifting it up once more into the sky. And he smiled, looking up to the sky once more, mesmerized by the sight.

 _♪If he's here, it's crystal clear,_ _♪_

I looked at him, then his hand, and with all of my might, I took it in mine.

He looked down at our hands, wide-eyed,

 _I'm where I'm meant to go_.

then smiled at me, his face reddening, looking into my eyes.

" _... And at last I see the light._ " We both sang, as Izuru turned towards me, holding both of my hands as I held his.

I could see his eyes widen as I sang next: " _And it's like the fog has lifted..._ "

" _And at last I see the light._ "

His smile softened as he gazed upon me: " _And it's like the sky is new..._ " He sang in his always pretty singing voice.

" _And it's warm, and real, and bright._

 _And the world has somehow shifted..._ "

The lantern that Izuru had lifted up just now is already high, up into the sky.

" _All at once, everything is different..._

 _Now that I see **you...**_ "

I let go of his hands, taking his face into my own hands,

" _Now that I see..._ "

And used my thumb to brush aside the bangs covering his left eye. As I did, I saw...

" ** _...you._** "

 _A yellow eye._ Izuru had red and yellow eyes. They were... _really_ pretty...

But also...

_they reminded me of someone._

Tossing away that thought, we both started leaning in, almost closing our eyes, about to almost _do it,_ when-

In the background, on the shore, I saw...

_them._

Teruteru and Byakuya...

I squinted my eyes, making sure that I wasn't just _seeing_ things.

But they had started walking away after noticing that I had seen them.

"Is... Is everything okay..?" Izuru suddenly asked me, opening his eyes, confused.

"I..." _I can't let them hurt him, I... My luck will probably interfere again..._

I trailed off, then snapped back into reality: "Oh, yes! Everything is _fine_ , I just..." Looking at the satchel, I could tell that Izuru was suspecting something.

**[Izuru's POV]**

Soon after the awkward pause, we were at the shore that lead to the forest. I was trying to calm myself down, but...

_What if... What if Junko was right after all-_

No. I can't let her mess with my brain. Not _now._

"I promise, everything is fine..." Nagito fret, jumping out of the boat, "I just... need to take care of something..." He took the satchel, turning around and then looking at me, his face soft, "I... I'll be back soon..."

I worried. _Did something happen? Is it my fault? Oh, of course he wouldn't like me, Junko was right-_

"Oh, of course." I sighed, pushing my dark thoughts aside. _Can't let them have me now..._

Nagito slightly smiled at me and turned away, walking towards the forest.

Snakemi slithered up on my shoulder. I bet she could feel how uneasy I was.

"It's alright, Snakemi..." I continued looking towards to where Nagito had just went, _hoping_ that he'd be okay.

**[3rd Person POV]**

"...Ah! There you two are!" Nagito laughed, trying to hide how nervous he actually was, "I've been searching _everywhere_ for you guys since we got separated."

Teruteru glared at him, sharpening a wooden stick with a dagger.

Nagito fretted: " _Well,_ I just wanted to say that I _shouldn't_ have split." Throwing the satchel forwards to the ground, he laughed, "The crown is all _yours_. I'll miss ya', but I think it's for the bes-"

Suddenly, he had bumped into Byakuya, who glared at him as well. Nagito sweat once more.

Teruteru was still sharpening the stick, but now, he was sitting on one of the boulders: "Holdin' out on us again, eh, Naegi?"

Nagito turned his head around, confused: "..What?"

"We heard you..." Teruteru jumped off of the boulder, throwing the dagger he just held into the ground, making it stab the damp dirt, "... _found_ somethin'... somethin' _much_ more _valuable_ than a _crown_." And walked over the satchel, stepping towards Nagito. Nagito knew where this was going, and he didn't like their idea. Not one bit.

"We want _him_ instead."

**[Izuru's POV]**

I stood next to the boat, trying to contain my nervousness inside. _He'll... he'll be back._

Snakemi was still next to me, trying to distract me from my thoughts.

As I kept looking at the path, though, I noticed him coming back. It was really foggy out here, though, so it was hard to tell, but... _it was him, right?_

I sighed in relief: "Oh, I was starting to think you ran off with the crown and left me.."

Though, as the silhouette came closer and closer, I noticed something... _off_ about it. Suddenly, _two_ people appeared out of the silhouette, making me realize that it _wasn't_ Nagito.

My eyes widened. I kept still and calm, though, as always.

As they came closer, it hit me - these were the two thieves that Nagito and I ran into back at the mine - we didn't get to do much, though, as they had been swept by the huge flood before they could attack us.

The shorter one smirked, laughing slightly: "...He did."

"He... he wouldn't." My left eye was once more covered by my bangs, so they could only see my red eye. Pretty sure Nagito once mentioned the fact that it glowed sometimes? So, that's pretty interesting for these type of situations. If there was someone here who wasn't used to anything like this, they probably would've been scared of me. But these are _thieves_ we're talking about.

The shorter one smirked once more, raising his eyebrow: "See for yo'self..." And pointed at the water, making me look into the distance. What I saw... shook me to my _core._

A ship, smaller than the others, though. Swimming towards the castle.

As I squinted my eyes to see a bit better, I noticed _who_ was controlling the boat.

It was... _Nagito._ Crown in hand. Steering the ship's wheel.

"...Nagito?" I muttered to myself so they wouldn't hear how _broken_ I actually sounded.

There wouldn't be any point in shouting for him... He would be too far to hear. No matter how _much_ I actually wanted to scream and shout for him to _turn back._

The taller one got next to me, laughing: "A fair trade - A crown for the guy with the magic hair." And touched it.

I turned around. I didn't like when people touched my hair... other than Junko and.. _Nagito._

"How much do ya think someone would pay to stay young and healthy foreva'?" The shorter one spoke once more, also laughing.

I didn't dare to move. Nor not to show any emotion. I just... stood still... _like Junko always wanted me to._

Though, the taller one took out a huge bag, that would fit me in there pretty easily. I decided the best thing would be to run, so.

 _I ran._ I ran and I ran. I couldn't get too far, though, as jumping over one of the fallen trees made my braided hair get stuck on one of the branches. I grunted, trying my best to get it free. _They could get me at any moment now-_

Suddenly, I heard people... _fighting?_ I stopped. _Somebody was fighting the thieves that were coming after me..._

_Who, though?_

Didn't take long to realize that, though, as _somebody_ shouted out:

" _Izuru!!_ "

I fretted, still holding the braid in my hands: "...Sis?"

I started walking towards the scene, seeing... _Junko_... with a thick, wooden piece in hand and the two thieves, laying unconscious. Immediately, Junko saw me and shouted out: "Oh! My _precious_ _hope!_ " Dropping the weapon she held, she ran towards me, embracing me in a hug.

I sighed: "Big Sis..."

Then, she let go of me, looking all over me: "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

I looked down, confused once more: "...How did you-"

"I was so _worried_ about you, _hope!_ " She cut me off, holding me, "So I followed you. And then saw them attack you! And I-" She stopped, embracing me once more. There was... something.. _off_ about her current actions...

I wanted to say something, but I couldn't, because Junko had spoke up again, almost as if she was in a rush: "Oh, God, let's go before they wake up!" And started running away. I hesitated for a bit, looking back at the.. _ship._ It was almost at the castle at this point, so...

I stood still while walking towards the shore, trying to hold all of the emotion in me. But, I guess _he_ has done something to me, as...

I felt a tear roll down my face. I... I have never cried. _Never._

But despite that, Nagito, he... he let me feel emotion again. Just for a moment.

Alas, that moment was gone, as I felt Junko waiting for me in the forest behind me. I quickly wiped off the tear, not letting her see. Then I turned, looking at her without any emotion once more.

Junko, holding a light source that she had found, sighed, placing it down and opening her arms wide open to welcome me for another hug. I slowly came towards her, accepting the hug.

"You... you were right, Big Sis... You were right about... everything."

"I know, darling, I know..." She replied sympathetically, though I could _tell_ that she was slightly irritated.

She let go of me after a moment, and picking up the light source, she started walking. I followed her in silence, having no thoughts at all.

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

My head felt... _heavy._

I slowly opened my eyes. I was starting to become familiar with this feeling. Though, as soon I had completely regained my vision, all I was met with was confusion - my hands were tied around a ship's steering wheel, and the crown was tied to one of my hands as well. And no, not with hair, but with actual _rope_ this time.

I stood, trying to make sense of what is happening. I realized that I was on a ship, of all things, in the water, and at the dock of...

_The castle._

It was still dark outside, so I couldn't really make sense of who or what was around me, but-

_Wait, where is **Izuru.**_

Oh my fucking God, it was Teruteru and Byakuya, wasn't it- _What had happened to Izuru??_

If you couldn't tell, I was legit worried about the long-haired guy.

" _The crown!_ " Suddenly, I heard someone yell. _Oh God it was one of the royal guards._

"I... **_IZURU!_** " I shouted out, hoping that he was _somewhere_ he could hear me-

But the royal guards had started to run and tackle me, grabbing me by my arms.

" _Wait,_ you _guys-_ " I shouted once more, struggling to break free of their grasp and trying to explain. But it was no use, there was too many of them, " _IZURU-!_ "

But, as I was being dragged over by the guards, form the corner of my eye, I saw...

_Nekomaru?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bro i suck at writing angst
> 
> Word Count: 3402


	11. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (normal summary for once)  
> Izuru has to go back to the castle, but then he realizes something pretty important.
> 
> also fuck junko

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why does this fic have 100 kudos  
> ((seriously though thank you all so so much!!! also ty for the 1000+ hits wtf)
> 
> THIS IS A VEEERY LONG CHAPTER  
> was planning to put it into two chapters originally, but i said fuck it and went ahead and w r o t e  
> enjoy!!!

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

I circled around the room that I was in, thinking on what the hell to do right now.

Oh yeah, the room that I was in? A prison cell, nothing much to be honest.

Though, they had dragged me here last night, and were preparing to send me to be _executed_ soon... I gulped. Yes, trash like me deserves it, but I couldn't just go on dying without knowing if Izuru was fine or not-

_Izuru..._

He probably hates me right now. Judging from the scene that I woke up to, Byakuya and Teruteru probably had set me up into the ship like that, making it look to Izuru as if _I_ was running away with the crown, leaving him behind. But... I would never. At least, not after _last night._

I grabbed my head into my hands, stressing over what could have happened to him. _Did they hurt him? Where is he right now? Oh God I have to go get him-_

Suddenly, the prison door opened, revealing Akane, the captain, and some of the other royal guards. Akane was glaring at me, not even saying a single word for the first few seconds. I stood there in silence as well, keeping all my worries inside me. Though, I knew what was coming for me.

"Let's get this over with, Naegi."

**[Izuru's POV]**

"There. Now it _never_ happened."

Big Sis was currently getting all of the flowers and clovers from my hair. Once more, my hair was loose, and the braid was no more. I.. sort of missed it. It was a hassle to walk with all this long hair all the time, so...

"Now, wash up for dinner. I'm making hazelnut soup." Junko said smugly, having put all of the flowers inside a basket and taking it away.

Yes, we were back in the tower. Currently, I was sitting in my room, without any emotion whatsoever.

Big Sis was about to exit my room, when she turned her head around, smiling at me. But she noticed how... _down_ , I was? I guess? I didn't know how she could tell, but yes, no matter what I did, I was... _sad._

"Oh, come on, Izuru, I tried, I really fuckin' did, but _you_ wouldn't listen even if I warned you.." Her face darkened, "The world is _dark, cruel_ , and full of **_despair._** If it finds even the slightest ray of _hope_... it _destroys it._ " And closed the curtain that was in place for a door.

I sighed. It... was hard to sit tight and stay here, but... What other choice did I even have, other than to listen to Junko? I mean, Nagito, he... he _left_ me. And even after everything we did together... _after everything **he** did for **me.  
**_ It made me want to _cry._ I felt so.. _broken_ , but there was nothing I could do about it.

Laying down into my bed, my legs still hanging over the end of the bed, I sighed, frustrated. But suddenly, the sun decided to shine into my fuckin' eyes, making me furrow my brows as I became even _more_ frustrated.

There was a tiny, glass window up on my ceiling, which was technically the roof, so I couldn't obviously escape through there. Still, it sometimes was a good enough light source. But not this time, as I just wanted to forget about everything but the sun stopped me from that.

Sighing once more, I got up from my bed, since laying in the bed wasn't a good idea. Although, because of the sun rays in my room, I saw something... _peculiar_ on the floor, shining.

It was quite small, but, crouching down in curiosity and getting up after picking it up, I got a closer look.

_A... hairpin?_

It was pretty unique, being pixel-like and having red and blue spots on a white base, resembling a spaceship.

_But... Why does it look so... familiar-_

_"Look, Chiaki, sweetie, this is your little brother!"_

_I opened up my eyes, my vision still being a little bit blurry from sleeping. I saw a woman, a man, and..._

_a girl?_

_I started crying out, being confused on what's going on, but then the girl spoke up:_

_"Hey, hey, little bro, I'm Chiaki, your big sister..." Suddenly, she took off the hairpin that was in her hair, and reached out the hand that was holding it towards me, "And I know you'll probably have no use for it, but this pin means a lot to me, so... keep it safe, will you?"_

_I babbled happily, holding the pin in my hands._

_What... what was that thought...? And why... did it feel... like it actually happened once?_

Slightly shaking, I sat down back on my bed. Longing for the outside world, I slowly pulled out the necklace, that... _Nagito_... had bought me. I had hid it behind my sweater - I mean, it was a thing I actually wanted to keep, and if Big Sis saw that I had it, she would probably snarl and yell at me, snatching it right from my neck.

I looked at it, sadly, and Snakemi curled up to me, as she was nearby.

I took the pendant in my hands. Seeing as a cloud had come over the sun, I sighed, sadly, and once more laid down onto my bed. I looked up to the ceiling.

Big Sis hadn't realized it, but I had my ceiling covered with my own paintings, mostly as a way to express emotion outside of my own face and words, since I.. never really knew how until.. _yesterday._ But yeah, painting was a small hobby of mine that I kept mostly secret. Junko never noticed the ceiling because of the shitty lighting in my room, so I guess _that_ has it's perks.

But, as I looked closer at the paintings, I... _noticed something was off._

I didn't realize it at first, but I was clenching the pendant in my hands and slightly shaking. I loosened my grip on it, and slowly brought my arm up, making me look at the pendant once more.

Then, I lowered the arm, and looked up to the ceiling again. Still slightly shaking, I prepped myself upwards with my other hand, taking an even closer look. My eyes widened.

_One of my paintings has... the **sun symbol** on it?_

It was barely noticeable, as I hasn't meant it - it was a flock of birds, but the space between them... _made the sun symbol._

Looking elsewhere, I realized that _another_ one of my paintings had it.

And another.

And another.

_And another._

The whole room was filled with sun symbols that I didn't even notice before. All thanks to my paintings. I was breathing heavily, my eyes widening even more.

At this point I had gotten up, still looking upwards and all around the room.

_And then, it hit me like a brick._

_The woman... The man... The girl..._

**_Chiaki..._ **

_My mind went back to the wall monument that I had seen - **the royal family.**_

**_Those were the same people._ **

_And the boy that they held... **The Lost Hope...**_

I gasped and yelled out in shock, losing my balance and falling backwards, causing me to crash into the vanity. I breathed, heavily, my hands shaking even more than ever before.

_I knew the truth._

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

As we walked down the path of all the other prison cells, I tried to stay calm. I mean, from the outside perspective, at least. Deep inside my mind was actually running, trying to figure out what to do.

_This is all to blame for my luck, isn't it?_

Though, as we walked past the cells, I realized _somebody_ was in prison themselves -

_Byakuya and Teruteru._

I furrowed my brows: _...What did they do to **Izuru?** I_

Scowling, I kicked the two guards holding me, making them fall unconscious, and _ran_ towards their prison cell, grabbing Teruteru by his shirt through the bars.

"How did you know about _him._ " I said darkly in his face, for once being _frustrated_ , "Tell me, _now._ "

"It-it wasn't us!!" He replied in his usual Australian accent, sweating bullets, "It was that ol' lady!"

I raised my eyebrow, thinking: "...Old lady?"

And then it hit me, my eyes widening, and as I was about to speak up, the other royal guards had ran up to me, holding me once more.

"Nghh, no, _wait!_ " I grunted, trying to get free again, "He's in trouble, you don't understand!"

But it was too late, as they dragged me away.

**[Izuru's POV]**

"...Izuru?" Junko had called downstairs. _Shit._ She must've heard me crash into the vanity.

Breathing heavily, I tried my best to calm myself down. I could hear her coming up the stairs.

"...Izuru, what the _hell_ is going on up there?" She shouted once more. If I didn't do anything soon, she would...

Breathing in and tucking the sun necklace behind my sweater once more, I got up, trying to let go of my shaking. _This... this ends **now.**_

I exited my room, walking through the curtains.

"Are you alright?" She raised her brow as she stopped walking, though she was quite near me. _I... I wasn't scared anymore._

Breathing out, I looked downwards, mumbling: "...I'm the Lost Hope..."

Junko rolled her eyes, frustrated: "Oh gosh fucking dammit, Izuru, you _know_ that I hate-"

Gripping onto the curtains, I furrowed my brows, _finally_ making eye contact with her: " ** _I'm_** the _Lost Hope_ , **_aren't I?_** "

Her eyes widened. _Looks like she wasn't expecting for me to find **that** out._

She stood there, silent.

"Did I mumble," Letting go of the curtains, I glared at her, " ** _Sister?_** "

" _Or should I even call you that?_ "

She stood still for another second, and then laughed: "Oh _, Izuru_ , do you even _hear_ yourself?" And walked straight up to me, "Why would you even ask such a _ridiculous_ fucking question?" And in an attempt to distract me, she tried to hug me, opening her arms wide. I pushed her aside though, screaming out: "It was _you!_ "

She looked at me in complete shock once again.

I breathed heavily, my eye probably glowing, still glaring at her: "It was _all **you!**_ "

Suddenly, her expression changed completely, in result making her scowl at me: "Everything I did was to _protect you._ "

"Protect me? _Protect **me?!**_ " I pushed her aside and started walking down the stairs.

" _Izuru-_ "

"I've spent my _entire life_ hiding from people who would _use me for my **power**_ -"

" ** _IZURU!"_**

"When in reality, I should have been hiding from.." As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I turned around and pointed at her," ** _...you!_** "

'Where will you _fucking_ go?" She spat out, " _He_ won't be there for you."

_Wait, was Junko coming to save me when I was almost kidnapped... all a **plan?**_

I turned away, clenching my teeth: "...What did you do to him?"

"Oh, _that_ fuckin' criminal?" She laughed, in the bad way. _That isn't a good sign._ I was starting to become worried.

"He's about to be _hanged_ for his crimes."

I suddenly gasped in realization. _He's... he's going to be **executed?**_

"Oh, now, now," She walked around me, taking me by my shoulders, "It's all right. Listen to me... All of this is as it _should be._ "

And just as she was about to pat me on the head as always, to reassure me that _everything is **fine,**_ I grabbed her by her wrist: " ** _No._** "

"...No?" She replied sternly.

"You were _wrong_ about the world. The only reason it is in despair, is because of _you._ You took _me,_ the _Ultimate Hope_ away from them, causing _war_ to break out."

Her eyes were wide once more, trying to break free from my grip. I continued, glaring: "And you were wrong... about _me._ " I took my other hand that was free, and brushed it through the bangs that were covering my _yellow_ eye.

It was weird being able to see with both eyes for once. But _Junko_ was the one who told me to hide the left eye, so it would be that just in case, people wouldn't _suspect_ me as the _prince._ But, the fool is her, as it was too late for that.

I grunted, putting even more force into my grip: "And I will **_never_ **let you use my hair **_again._** "

But out of spite, and, well, her being stronger than me, she broke free, and out of the sudden force, she lost balance, making the huge stand-up mirror behind her _fall,_ breaking it into pieces.

I glared at her once more, then turned around and started walking away.

"You want me to be the bad guy...? _Fine._ Now I'm the _bad guy._ "

[ **Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

I was almost at the room where my life was gonna end. I was starting to lose all hope, thinking there is no way to escape. I... I had stopped trying, just staying still as the guards dragged me closer to the destination.

_Heh... so this is what despair truly feels like..._

I never was a fan of despair. Yeah, it helped for _hope_ to shine, but I had lost too much due to the kingdom being like this for almost two decades now. I was _tired_ , and... _I was ready to lose it all._

Izuru is... it's probably too late for me to go ahead and save him. Because of my luck, everything that has happened is _my_ faul-

But as I looked around the hallway, I saw...

_A gummy bear?_

Wait... didn't Hiy-

_Suddenly,_ the door in front of us shut with a huge _thud,_ making the guards jump back a bit, including me. Then, as if the place was haunted, all of the other doors and exits shut as well. _What the hell is happening here??_

Akane shouted out, punching her fists together: "What is this?!". Looks like she was also confused.

Akane had come with us this time, because after my attempt to get more information out of the _other two,_ she and some of her other guards had came over running, tackling me.

Turning around to face the door in front of us, she yelled out: "Open the hell up!". She could've easily punched down that door, if it only wasn't for how sturdy the doors they made were.

But, from the other side, a quite familiar, child-like voice spoke out in reply: "What's the password?"

"...What?" Akane raised her brow. The voice laughed out: "Nope! Incorrect!"

"Open this Goddamn door!" She was already starting to get annoyed, banging her fists on the door.

"Ugh, not even close!" The person had groaned in annoyance as well.

_Nobody_ would dare to mess with Akane, except me, of course. _Unless..._

" _You have three seconds!_ " She shouted out, preparing to punch someone in the guts, "One..."

I stood there, dumbfounded. _Who the hell-_

Suddenly, one of the guards holding me, was _snatched_ into the air by a _hook_. The other guard who was still there looked shocked and started shaking like a baby. _How did you become a royal guard again?_

" _Two..._ " Akane still continued her thing, her back turned on us and full focus on the door.

That was a good advantage for somebody to just open up the door next to the guard and snatch him as well. Funny idea, right? _Well,_ it actually just happened. As the guard was snatched, his helmet went flying, hitting the ground, making Akane turn around in suspicion as she said: " _Three-_ "

Now _she_ stood there, dumbfounded, while I just stood there and waved at her, smiling my usual smile.

She gasped in shock, probably wondering where her men had went. Though, as she was looking at me...

**_BONK_ **

Aand she fell to the ground once more, hitting her face on the floor. Now _you_ know how it feels! _Hah!_

Oh, you're wondering who hit her? Well, it was Ibuki, who had whipped out her guitar, using it as the weapon.

" _Oh_ , and now we're using _guitars!_ Who knew, right?" Raising my shoulders, I laughed.

_Yeah,_ **_the_** Ibuki Mioda just appeared. She's from the pub, yes. _Wait, does that mean the others are here, too..?_

She was breathing heavily for a bit, still recovering from hitting the literal captain. But then she looked upwards in alarm.

"Uhh, Ibuki thinks Mr. Naegi should make a run for it!" I raised my eyebrow, confused as of what she meant. But just moments later, I heard it too. Of _course,_ Ibuki's hearing is better than everyone else's.

The noise? Well, it was just a whole group of guards breaking in through the door on the other end, making me and Ibuki _run_ for it, yelling out. She sounded like she was having _fun_ , though, yelling to her heart's content.

Making a ton of twists and turns, the guards had almost caught us. _Oh God, this is the end of the line-_

"Hey, come on guys, smile for the camera!" Suddenly, Mahiru had appeared, and pulling out her camera, she was facing towards the guards. We were right behind her, though.

The guards were confused for a moment, but couldn't resist smiling and even posing for her. Of course, that's the _Ultimate Photographer_ for ya. You just couldn't resist her charm. But, out of nowhere, she slightly smirked, and from the distance, I could hear _someone_ running to the guards.

As the person came closer, I realized that it was Peko, of all people. She kicked them aside, and was about to pull out her blade, when:

"Peko! No stabbing, remember?" Mahiru raised her finger, warning her. Peko just sighed in defeat and put the blade back in it's place. She _did_ kick the guards one more time, though. "It's for safety measures." She would say.

And so, we continued running until we could find an exit. Oh, and on the way there, Fuyuhiko joined us - He was the one who had snatched that first guard away.

But as we continued, we had _finally_ made it outside - Though it was sill in between the walls of the prison. I stopped, my eyes widening. A whole _army_ of guards had appeared. I stood still, until Fuyu pushed me aside, grunting.

"Head down." He lowered his head and slightly raised his hands.

"Head down." I repeated.

Putting his arms closer to himself, he continued: "Arms in."

"Arms in." I had no idea where this was going, to be honest.

"Knees apart." He said.

I repeated: "Knees apart-" But then looked at him, raising my eyebrow, " _Wait,_ knees apart?"

I saw the guards coming closer, but I didn't flinch. Fuyuhiko knew what he was doing. At least, I believed in that.

Though, that didn't stop me from asking questions: "...Why do I have to keep my knees apart?" Fuyuhiko smirked at me, muttering "Good luck, you bastard."

Suddenly, I heard someone yelling. I looked upwards, realizing that... _Kazuichi_ _was jumping?_

And then, I had flung into the air. Yelling out, I looked to where I was just mere seconds ago - Oh of fucking _course_ Fuyu would make me stand on the edge of an unbalanced crate, making Kazuichi act as a catapult, sending me through the sky to escape. _Well, that's one way, I guess-_

Though, as I was about to hit the ground, I closed my eyes, _hoping_ my luck would be good-

I realized that I had landed on _something... **someone?**_

I opened my eyes, still slightly shaken from the previous event. I breathed out, looking downwards.

"... _Nekomaru?_ "

He neighed in response, looking at me, proudly.

I soon realized what he was doing here: "You... _you_ brought them here, didn't you?"

He looked at me, smug portrayed all over his face.

I looked at him, relaxing: "...Thank you."

He raised his eyebrow in response.

"No, really, I..." I continued, "I feel like we've been misunderstanding one-another this whole time!"

Dead silence.

_"Never mind,_ yeah, you're right. We should go."

Though, since we were currently on the highest floor that stood outside, the guards had soon realized where we were. They broke through the entrance and started shooting arrows at us using their bows.

Since escape from here was pretty much impossible, Nekomaru decided to do the pretty much impossible:

He dodged all of the arrows, and then continued to run forward. On the other end, there were even more guards that suddenly appeared. Nekomaru just kept on running.

"Nekomaru..." I mumbled to him in warning.  
But he didn't listen to me. Of fucking _course._

" _Nekomaru...."_ We had started to near the edge.

" ** _Nekomaru-!_** " Then, he jumped.

I screamed out. He just _jumped_ without a care in the world. _Gosh this horse is batshit crazy-_ wait so am I.

Suddenly, we landed on the roof of another building. I guess that was his goal, otherwise we'd probably be drowning right now.

But, just as we started sliding _down_ the roof, a ton of the tiles used for it broke off, and trying my _best_ to control Nekomaru, he jumped once more, making himself land in the town square.

I breathed in, looking down on him: "Alright, Nekomaru, let's see how fast you can run!" And so, I leaned in, speeding up as much as we can.

So, we ran. Ran as fast as we could to the tower. Nekomaru still remembered the path, and so did I.

_Just you wait, Izuru, I'm coming for you. And I will end this madness._

As soon as we made it to the tower, I grunted, jumping off of Nekomaru's back. He decided to stay put, just in case we need him.

Running up to the tower, I was hoping... _hoping_ that there is a chance that _he_ is okay.

"Izuru?" I shouted out, "Izuru, let down your hair!"

_No response._

Oh God, something has happened to him, _something has fucking happened._

Making sure I'd get up there as soon as I can, I decided the best method in this situation would be to climb it up with my bare hands - I didn't have the arrows like I did previously, so this would be very hard. _But I have to-_

Suddenly, I heard somebody shuffle near the window, and then... _hair._ The same hair I was oh-so familiar with at this point. I smiled, quickly grabbing onto it and climbing upwards.

As I got to the top, I sighed, relieved: "Oh, Izuru, I thought I'd never see you again-"

But what I saw left me in complete shock.

Izuru... he was... _chained_ , his hands were tied up, and his mouth was covered, so he couldn't tell me anything.

**[Izuru's POV]**

"Wha-"

Oh my God he's here, _why is he here._

Of course I was really glad that we was okay and alive, but... Junko, she...

I could barely get enough strength to get my hair down without _her_ noticing, but now I couldn't even yell or shout at Nagito of what Junko had done. No matter _how much I wanted to_ , I just _couldn't._

That's why, the next thing that happened, hurt the most.

Suddenly, Junko had appeared _right behind him_ , smiling as she always does. I cried out with all my might to warn him _somehow._ But, I was too late. The very next moment, Junko _stabbed_ him in the back, making him groan in immense pain, falling to the ground. Junko just _laughed_ hysterically, looking at him. I yelled out _trying_ to get to him, but I was _chained_ to the other side of the room.

_This is all of my fault... If I maybe actually **did** something, he-_

"Now look what you have fuckin' done, Izuru!" She continued laughing, then came towards me slowly, "Oh, don't worry, _hope,_ our secret will _die_ with him!"

Nagito kept on groaning. _I could save him with my hair, just fucking **let me!**_

I could feel myself tearing up slightly. Junko had walked over to the chain at this point: "And as for _us?_ " As I struggled to get closer to Nagito, she pulled on it, forcing me to go back, "We are going where _no one_ will ever find you, **_again_** _._ " She had clenched her teeth, using as much force as possible to stop me from moving. Though, from the corner of my eye, I could see...

_Snakemi?_

She had slithered over to Junko's leg, trying to pull her by her cloak to at least try to help me out somewhat -

But Junko noticed, spat, and simply kicked her away. I shouted out once more, but _nothing_ \- it was all muffled.

She rolled her eyes, fuming: "Jesus fucking _Christ_ , Izuru, _enough already!_ ". At this point, I had gotten up on my feet, as I stood there and resisted her. She pulled even harder: "Stop fucking **_fighting me!_** "

" ** _No_**." Finally, the cloth holding my mouth shut had gotten loose, letting me _speak_ for once, "For every minute of the rest of my life, I _will_ fight." She glared at me even more. I could tell that she was getting furious with me.

But I didn't care. I couldn't stop fighting. Especially not _now,_ when I've got...

**_Him_ ** _to save._

"I will _never_ stop trying to _get away from **you.**_ " I glared at her back. Yeah, I was mad. No, actually, I was _furious._

My biological parents are _gone_ thanks to _her,_ and my _actual_ sister doesn't even know if I'm _alive._

I breathed heavily, trying to calm down for a second. _I... I have to save Nagito._

So, for _him_ , I had to do this.

Breathing in, I suddenly said: "But... If you let me save him... _I will go with you_."

**[Naegi's/Komaeda's POV]**

"N-no... no, Iz..Izuru..." I struggled to object to his idea, the pain was a _lot_ to handle.

He looked down, choking out the words that he didn't want to say to her: "I'll never run, I'll... I'll never try to escape... Just let me heal him and... You and me will be together. _Forever._ Just like _you_ want... _Everything_ will be the way it was... _I promise._ "

I didn't get it... _why_ would Izuru risk his life of total freedom for _trash_ like _me?_ I wasn't anything special, I wasn't anyone important, unlike him. He could be _free_ from all of the abuse, but yet... _he chooses **me?**_

"Just... let me heal him..." He spoke once more, but this time it was barely above a whisper.

Junko glared at him.

Moments later, _I_ was the one now chained.

"In case you have _any_ ideas of _following us_." Junko spat, furrowing her brows while walking away from me. Immediately, I could see Izuru run towards me: "N-Nagito!" He cried out, looking at my state.

I coughed out, laughing: "D-don't worry, it's just a light stab wound..."

Izuru slightly teared up, arguing with me: "I don't _care??_ You are **_bleeding??_** " And put his hand onto the wound.

I winced from the pain even more, causing Izuru to have a worried look in his eyes. Yeah, his left eye wasn't covered by his hair anymore. _Heh, what an influence I am._

He stressed: "Oh God, Nagito, I am.. so _, so_ sorry, I-"

I slightly raised my hand: "No, Izuru..."

Taking some of his hair in his hands, he reassured me: " _Everything_ is going to be okay, though-"

" _No,_ Izuru!"

"I promise... You have to trust me.." His voice started to slightly crack. But despite that, he _was trying to hold his emotions in, just like before._

"No..." I struggled to breathe out.

"C-come on..." He was trying his best to convince me that he could do this for me

"I... I can't let you do this..." I gasped out, still in immense pain from the stab wound.

Just barely above a whisper, he replied: "...And I can't let you _die_..."

"B-but if you-"

He tried to quiet me down, to stop my worrying. I still couldn't stop objecting him, though:

"But if you do this, then... _you'll die..._ "

He looked me in the eyes, have me the _slightest_ hint of a smile, he whispered: "It's going to be all right..."

I smiled at him, back, looking into his eyes. But... I couldn't do this. I _... I didn't want to be in the way to his freedom, so..._

**_I_ ** _am gonna free him._

Lifting up my hand to his face, I brushed away some of the hair strands still covering his eyes.

Now that I look at them both at the same time for a longer period, I realized that my _hunch_ was right.

Heh, after all these years of searching for you, and you just suddenly show up to me by accident, huh, Stormy?

_No... Not by accident._ It was probably... **_luck._** And **_hope._** _Luck and Hope **combined.**_

So, I started leaning in, closer to him. And then...

I cut it.

Just mere moments ago, when he wasn't looking, I had picked up a piece from a broken mirror that was near me, and with that, I _cut_ his hair.

**[Izuru's POV]**

"Nagito, _what did you just-_ "

" ** _NOOOOO!_** " Junko suddenly _screamed_ out, her eyes wide in _shock._

I looked at my hair, picking it up. It... _It was turning **light brown.**_ So was the hair on my head - it was now light brown and looked spiky because of how Nagito had cut it.

Junko was looking at the loose cut hair, panicking, even picking it up at one point: "No.... **_NO!_** "

The hair... it was... _losing it's power..._

"What have you _done?!_ " She screamed out in agony. She... _she was turning paler, her skin old, and her hair - gray_ , " _WHAT HAVE YOU FUCKING **DONE???**_ " And had started freaking out as she tossed the hair aside, and crouched down to look at the now broken mirror. What she saw... was probably as shocking to me, because she had started to scream out again.

" _No, no, no, no, no, no, **NO!**_ "

Disgusted by the way she looked, she covered herself with her cloak, resulting in her not being able to _see_ anything. And well, because of that, she... she had started to walk backwards towards the window.

I noticed Snakemi had gotten back up again, starting to pull the now _cut_ hair with her tail, causing Junko to _trip_ and _fall_ _outside of the window._ I got up, reaching my hands out to her in shock. But it was obviously too late.

I could hear her _screaming_ in agony, all because of how she _looked_. So, when she hit the ground, she... _was nowhere to be seen..._ She had... turned into _ashes_ whilst falling...

As I looked down through the window, all I could see was her cloak. And nothing more.

Breathing heavily, I found it _too horrifying_ to be true. But the next part just made me want to believe that this was all a _horrible nightmare._

Snapping back into reality, I turned back to Nagito, _hoping_ that he was alright.

"No, no, no, no, _Nagito..._ " I cried out, "Please, _please,_ don't leave me already!"

Suddenly, he coughed, but just _barely._ He was close to his final breath.

I gasped, eyes wide: "N-Nagito, Nagito, look at me, _p-please_. I'm right here."

I could feel my entire body shaking, my mind refusing to work.

"S-stay with me, Nagito, d-don't go.." Even my voice was cracking. _Pathetic, huh..?_

In desperation, I lifted up his hand and put it up to my now powerless hair, and started singing in a rush: "H-hope gleam and glow, let your power shine-" I was already chocking up on my words, "M-make the clock reverse, bring what once was mine-"

Suddenly, Nagito spoke up, but very weakly: "I-Izuru..."

My eyes filled up with even more tears: "Wh..What?"

And just, barely above a whisper, he said to me, smiling:

" _You were my hope..._ "

I started laughing, smiling to myself, my vision blurring: "A-and you were mine..."

And so, in my arms... his body had gone limp. _I.... I couldn't save him... I'm..._

_I'm **useless...**_

I could feel my heart breaking, my gut exploding, my thoughts running and my own tears blurring my vision.

H-he was...

_gone._

All of those times we had spent together - even if I was an asshole to him most of the time, it was only because I didn't know any better. But.. because of him, I found out so many things...

He taught me how to _feel..._

He... He taught me how to be _kind..._

He...

_He taught me how to love._

All I could do now was... sit there...

I... softly began to sing as I held him close to me - he did say that he liked my singing, so...

_I hope this makes you happy, Ko'._

" _...H-heal what has been hurt...._ "

" _...Ch-Change the fates design...."_

I could barely say the words. I was losing my voice as it was cracking,

" _...Save what has been lost...B-Bring back what once was... **mine...** "_

And putting my forehead next to his, I let the tears finally fall,

" _Wh..What once was... m-mine..._ "

I finally let out all of the emotions I was feeling inside right now... gasping for air, I cried, harder than ever.

"I'm sorry Nagito... _I am so, **so** sorry..._"

And then... I didn't feel like moving. At all. I... I wasn't ready to let go yet...

I just stood there, still, once in a while breathing heavily.

After what felt like forever, I slowly opened my eyes. But what I saw was...

**_Hope?_ **

Nagito's wound... It was... _somehow healing??_

Was it... _was it my tears?_

The healing power _glowed_ brighter than ever, filling the entire room with _light._

And... when it stopped, the wound..

_It was gone._

My eyes widened in shock, then looked at Nagito. He had started to groan, slowly opening his eyes.

" _...Izuru..?_ "

_He... He was **alive.**_

"What's going o-"

I chocked out, tearing up once more: "Don't go dying on me again, _idiot._ "

"Wh-"

And then, I _finally_ did it. I pulled him into a kiss, as I smiled through the tears.

Pretty sure it was from the shock, but it took him a moment to realize what was actually going on, because only _then_ did he kiss me back, smiling to himself as well.

_It's pretty ironic, really._ All I could feel was despair just a few moments ago, but now...

_All I felt was pure bliss and hope_.

Once we both _finally_ let go, we got up. Nagito looked at me in the eyes once more, slightly blushing:

"Hey, Izur- No, _wait..._ I should call you _Hajime_ now, shouldn't I...?" He smiled at me, laughing to himself, "Did I ever tell you that you have _beautiful_ eyes?"

I laughed alongside him, wiping off my tears: "You _dork,_ that was the cheesiest shit ever."

He crossed his arms as he raised his eyebrow: "But you still love me for it."

I could feel my face heat up, and rolling my eyes, I muttered to myself, looking away: "Yeah, you're right..."

_"Hey, I heard that!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaa tysm for reading,,, i rlly tried on this one!!  
> next chapter's the finale so ;))) wink wonk
> 
> Word Count: 5842
> 
> my 2ds xl fucking died on me


	12. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chiaki finally meets hajime n he finally gets the sister he deserves :)) also komaeda gets hugged man i wish that was me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST OF ALL: so so so sorry for not updating for almost 3 weeks!! i suddenly lost motivation to wrote because uhh past two weeks have been pretty horrible to me ig, my pet degu that i had for 4.5 years suddenly passed away and aaaa my 2ds xl died on me. so i hope you can forgive me!!! :"000  
> SECOND OF ALLL yeah this is the endd waaa  
> more infoo in notes at the end

**[3rd Person POV]**

As a guard suddenly burst through the castle doors, gasping, Chiaki looked at him, raising her eyebrow in confusion. As he caught his breath, he slightly nodded at her, as a sign.

Her eyes widened. Soon enough, she got up, and shot through the door, running towards the balcony door, where the guard said to go.

...What was this feeling? _Hope?_

Yes, she had been hoping almost every single day for 18 years for this one single moment, but... _what if there was a mistake and it isn't **him?**_

Chiaki brushed those thoughts aside, as she slowly and steadily opened both of the doors at the same time. What she saw was...

**[Hajime's POV]**

There I stood - Izuru- no **, _Hajime_** , next to Nagito, facing the entire kingdom on the castle's balcony. Not gonna lie, I was shaking slightly. I mean, it was my sister, all right - the former queen, the Ultimate Gamer - it was hard to believe that I was finally going to see her again after all these years, but... _what if..._

"Hey, Stormy, you all right?" Nagito suddenly said, knocking me out of my thoughts. It didn't stop the worries, though, "You've been zoning out several times recently. Something the matter?"

Gosh, where would he be without Nagito right now? Most definitely stuck in the tower still, that's for sure. But still, I was so thankful for him - despite everything, he stuck with me. _Even when I basically kidnapped him once..._

"Well, I just keep worrying, maybe..." I looked downwards, seeing all the tiny townspeople from this perspective, "...What if Chiaki doesn't want me back?"

Nagito furrowed his brows, facing me: "What do you mean? Of _course_ she's gonna want you back, why do you think she continued celebrating your birthday with the entire kingdom?"

"I-"

"And _why_ do you think the lanterns appear every year just on your birthday? Because the entire kingdom wants their _hope_ back!" He realized he was getting ahead of himself, as he cleared his throat and calmed down, "What I mean is... of _course_ she's going to want to have you back. You're a great person, Hajime. You get to spread hope everywhere you go and I believe you can do the same for this kingdom. I believe Chiaki wants the same for her kingdom."

Slightly blushing, I smiled and looked at him: "..Thank you, Nagito." Yep, I would definitely be lost without him.

As held his hand for comfort, the doors behind us suddenly burst open, making me and Nagito turn around to look. The person who came was...

_Chiaki._

**[Chiaki's POV]**

_This... this isn't a dream, right?_ I mean, I was still quite sleepy.

There he stood, eyes wide, looking at me in the eye.

I slowly started stepping closer, as he slightly came forwards. _Those eyes..._

I could feel myself shivering as I got closer to him, reaching my hand out to brush some of his hair aside. It was cut quite choppily, to be honest.

And then, I smiled, feeling myself tearing up, knowing that it was all real.

_He's real._

I furrowed my brows and hugged him, or, well, basically tackled him, making him almost fall on his back. Despite being so short, I had my strength.

"H-huh??" He sweat, confused and worried at the same time. I sniffled, letting go of him and looking up at him once more.

"I'd recognize those eyes anywhere, little bro."

I could see him slightly tearing up, just like me, and this time, he hugged me, but a lot more gently. I immediately embraced him back, sniffling even more.

And as I looked over Hajime's shoulder, I saw... the _thief_ that had stolen his crown... Makoto Naegi? He was looking at Hajime, smiling, crossing his arms, almost ad if he was _proud_. _What was **he** doing here?_ But... Maybe _he's_ the reason Hajime is here as well?

I smiled at him, reaching out my hand towards in his direction. He noticed, and thinking nothing of it, he took it. But as soon as I pulled him in, his eyes widened, as Hajime and I embraced him in the hug as well.

If you looked closely, you could see him tearing up as well. Even if he has committed so many crimes in the past, if he helped Hajime come back home, then that is all that matters.

**[Komaeda's narrative]**

Well... you could imagine what happened next.

The entire Jabberwock kingdom rejoiced, having their Lost Hope returned back home after so many years. The party lasted an _entire week,_ but, to be honest, I don't remember much of it.

Well, on the brighter side, hope had started to spread all across the entire kingdom! Ibuki became one of the most famous singers in the kingdom, many people loving her cheerful, energetic personality, even off of the stage.

And, if you can believe it, Peko actually _hoped_ to find true love one day, and what do you know, Fuyuhiko and her started dating! Well, not if it was really that surprising, they knew each other very well, after all.

Souda, well, he didn't get over his motion sickness, obviously, but Mikan got to help him with that sometimes with some medicine, so he gets to do basically whatever he wants with his machines nowadays, even fixing some for the townspeople, and Mikan gets to help out some more people with her healing skills.

Even Mahiru became a famous photographer, just like she had hoped for! And with her support, Hiyoko actually got to dance on stage, and about her shortness - well, she got a growth spurt. A very big one, in fact. Well, good for her, I guess, at least she looks like an actual adult now.

Aand Gundham gets to take care of the royal guard horses! Speaking of horses...

Thanks to Nekomaru, crime in the kingdom disappeared almost over night...

as did most of the apples.

Snakemi? Never changed, the kids actually love her, in fact.

As for _him_ , well, finally, Hajime Hinata was home, where he actually had a real sister, who supported him in every way possible.

He was a prince worth waiting for...

He led his kingdom to hope, making almost all despair disappear. Everyone admired him for his loyalty and strength, though his emotions could be hard to read sometimes.

As for me? Well, I started going by Nagito Komaeda again. Sure, the royal guards are having a hard time getting used to it, but that's to be expected. I actually stopped thieving, and basically turned it all around for the better, becoming a better person in the end. Well, technically it was all because of the tiny hope I had kept within me for all these years.

Long story short, all had turned to the better because I met Hajime. Because of _him_ , something had sparked within me, and honestly, I'm not complaining. He... saved me. And from what he's been saying, _I_ saved _him_ , but I find that very hard to believe.

_Nagito..._

Alright, alright, Stormy, you don't have to go all mad on me again!

_I'm just teasing, y'know!_

I know, I know. **♡**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very short ending chapter but i only had like 3 minutes in the movie to write off of so  
> none-the-less, i hope u guys enjoyed reading this fic!!! i never expected to write like 29K words in total, but alas,,, i was betting to write like 10K maximum ngl  
> also!! ty for all the support!!! if you would like it, after a short break, should i write some oneshots on this au off of "tangled: the series"? i have someee planned in mind so pls comment if you think that's a good idea!!
> 
> love you all!! stay safe!! 
> 
> Word Count: 1199


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